Only a few docs can say they apply nationwide, making Dr. Anna Chacon a standout.
There are simply over one million licensed physicians within the U.S. as of 2023, and fewer than 8% of these docs have licenses to apply in three or extra states, in line with the Federation of State Medical Boards.
Chacon is licensed to apply dermatology in all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. She runs her personal personal apply out of Coral Gables, Miami, and sees sufferers across the nation each just about and in-person when she travels periodically.
Again in 2020, Chacon’s father, who’s additionally a doctor, was laid off from his job at a hospital in Miami. The shock of that layoff impressed Chacon to open her personal apply to assist insulate herself and her funds from going through an identical problem. Moreover, she had began doing telehealth appointments throughout the Covid-19 pandemic and “actually liked it,” she says.
So she began exploring her choices to have the ability to proceed working remotely.
“I stated, ‘okay, nicely, the place can I work? How can I do that on a much bigger scale?’ And I made a decision to use for all of the licenses,” she says.
‘The price of doing enterprise’
Each state has its personal doctor licensing course of, making it no simple feat to get credentialed in quite a few locations. Getting the licenses themselves sometimes have charges that may be lots of of {dollars}, she says. Moreover, the applying processes usually required notarizations, background checks and different expensive administrative duties.
“Folks did assume I used to be loopy on the time, together with my dad,” Chacon says. “It’s important to do a whole lot of paperwork to use. There’s a whole lot of charges, there’s typically checks, typically it’s a must to go in individual.” She needed to journey to Puerto Rico to get licensed there, she says.
All in, Chacon says it value her no less than $180,000 to amass all of her licenses between these charges, together with journey and different prices. She paid all of it on her personal from her earnings on the time, she says.
“It’s actually costly and I’ve no regrets doing it,” she says. “It is nice, it is fantastic, but it surely’s additionally the price of doing enterprise is what I used to be informed.”
The funding has paid off nicely for her to this point. She earned over $870,000 in 2024 between her wage from her primary apply in Coral Gables and earnings from telehealth contracts nationwide. She earned additional income from renting out two properties.
“I did it as a result of I needed that skill to work from wherever,” she says. “And I additionally love how I meet sufferers from all totally different locations — locations that I’ve by no means heard of, like Raton, New Mexico. I typically search for these locations and I simply get intrigued by it, by the pathologies that I see.”
‘A path in the direction of success’
Her nationwide licensing has helped Chacon construct a big roster of shoppers, but additionally allowed her to see sufferers who in any other case could have hassle accessing well being care. She travels to rural components of the nation and says she’ll see anybody in want.
“I do a whole lot of work with indigenous tribes, each in Alaska and in California, and a whole lot of them are very poor,” she says.
She may theoretically make more cash specializing in costly procedures like cosmetics and different elective surgical procedures, however she’s extra thinking about serving to individuals who want her medical companies.
“I’ve found that once you see an space of want and one thing you actually like [that’s] when issues actually flourish and also you uncover a path in the direction of success,” she says.
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