39-year-old dermatologist spent $180,000 to get licensed nationwide—she made $870,000 last year

CNBC

25-07-2025

Very few doctors can say they practice nationwide, making Dr. Anna Chacon a standout.
There are just over a million licensed physicians in the U.S. as of 2023, and less than 8% of those doctors have licenses to practice in three or more states, according to the Federation of State Medical Boards.
Chacon is licensed to practice dermatology in all 50 states, plus Puerto Rico, Guam and the U.S. Virgin Islands. She runs her own private practice out of Coral Gables, Miami, and sees patients around the country both virtually and in-person when she travels periodically.
Back in 2020, Chacon's father, who's also a physician, was laid off from his job at a hospital in Miami. The shock of that layoff inspired Chacon to open her own practice to help insulate herself and her finances from facing a similar challenge. Additionally, she had started doing telehealth appointments during the Covid-19 pandemic and "really loved it," she says.
So she started exploring her options to be able to continue working remotely.
"I said, 'okay, well, where can I work? How can I do this on a bigger scale?' And I decided to apply for all the licenses," she says.
Every state has its own physician licensing process, making it no easy feat to get credentialed in numerous places. Getting the licenses themselves typically have fees that can be hundreds of dollars, she says. Additionally, the application processes often required notarizations, background checks and other costly administrative tasks.
"People did think I was crazy at the time, including my dad," Chacon says. "You have to do a lot of paperwork to apply. There's a lot of fees, there's sometimes tests, sometimes you have to go in person." She had to travel to Puerto Rico to get licensed there, she says.
All in, Chacon says it cost her at least $180,000 to acquire all of her licenses between those fees, along with travel and other costs. She paid it all on her own from her earnings at the time, she says.
"It is really expensive and I have no regrets doing it," she says. "It's great, it's wonderful, but it's also the cost of doing business is what I was told."
The investment has paid off well for her so far. She earned over $870,000 in 2024 between her salary from her main practice in Coral Gables and earnings from telehealth contracts nationwide. She earned additional income from renting out two properties.
"I did it because I wanted that ability to work from anywhere," she says. "And I also love how I meet patients from all different places — places that I've never heard of, like Raton, New Mexico. I sometimes look up these places and I just get intrigued by it, by the pathologies that I see."
Her national licensing has helped Chacon build a large roster of clients, but also allowed her to see patients who otherwise may have trouble accessing health care. She travels to rural parts of the country and says she'll see anyone in need.
"I do a lot of work with indigenous tribes, both in Alaska and in California, and a lot of them are very poor," she says.
She could theoretically make more money focusing on expensive procedures like cosmetics and other elective surgeries, but she's more interested in helping people who need her medical services.
"I've discovered that when you see an area of need and something you really like [that's] when things really flourish and you discover a path towards success," she says.