SANTA FE — A bipartisan push to bring New Mexico into the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact is gaining momentum at the Roundhouse, setting up a confrontation between healthcare advocates and a group of influential lawyer-legislators over the state’s chronic physician shortage.
The legislation, co-sponsored by Sen. Linda Trujillo and Sen. Nicole Tobiassen, aims to streamline the process for out-of-state doctors to practice in New Mexico. Proponents argue the bill is essential to addressing long wait times at rural clinics and a scarcity of specialists within the state.
New Mexico remains an outlier in the Southwest; neighbors Arizona, Colorado, and Texas have already joined the compact.
“Joining the compact is like giving our healthcare system a ‘TSA PreCheck’ for doctors,” stated the New Mexico Medical Board, noting that the system maintains high medical standards while removing the bureaucratic barriers that deter qualified professionals from relocating to the state.
The bill has garnered a broad coalition of support, including the New Mexico Medical Board, the nonpartisan advocacy group Think New Mexico, and various rural hospital administrators.
However, the path to passage remains clouded by opposition from a specific bloc of Democratic legislators who also serve as trial attorneys. Critics of the bill’s current form, including Democrat Sen. Katy Duhigg and Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Joseph Cervantes, have raised concerns regarding patient safety and legal liability.
Both Duhigg and Cervantes maintain private practices specializing in medical malpractice. During previous sessions and committee hearings, they have argued that the compact could undermine state-level oversight and patient protections.
Supporters of the bill, however, have characterized these concerns as “poison pill” amendments designed to protect the interests of the medical malpractice litigation industry. They point out that more than 40 states currently participate in the compact without a documented decrease in care quality.
The legislative friction carries financial consequences. New Mexico currently risks losing millions in federal “compact-preference” grants established under the Working Families Tax Cut Act of 2025.
For rural healthcare providers, the stakes are existential. Administrators warn that without a streamlined licensing process, more private practices and rural facilities face potential closure.
As the 2026 session continues, the bill serves as a litmus test of whether the legislature will prioritize reform to expand healthcare access or side with the state’s trial attorneys.
