Recent Changes to Licensing and Compact States

Q:

There are some recent changes to licensing and Compact States. I am confused!!!! Can you help?

A:

I’ll do my best!

The enactment of Compact Licensure has been a wonderful thing for Traveling Nurses. It has increased patient access to good care by allowing talented Nurses to transition easily from state to state within the NLC participants without spending the necessary time and money needed to obtain additional licenses.

Now there is even better news. Implementation of the new eNLC which now includes 26 states is set for January 29, 2018. This is the date on which nurses who currently hold  eNLC multistate licenses may begin practicing in those 26 states.  Nurses who do not hold a multistate license but do reside in one of the 26 eNLC states will need to apply for licensure. They must meet 11 requirements that include: meet their home state’s qualifications, graduate from a board of nursing-approved nursing education program, pass the NCLEX-RN or NCLEX-PN Exam, have no active discipline on their license, submit to a criminal background check, have no prior state of federal felony convictions and have a valid Social Security number. A nurse who changes their primary state of residence after the eNLC’s effective date must meet their new resident state’s eNLC requirements to obtain a multistate license.

The states of Colorado, Wisconsin, Rhode Island, and New Mexico are not, as of this time, included in the eNLC. Nurses holding licenses with one of those states are still able to practice within those states freely. However if they wish to practice in one of the states included in the eNLC, they will have to obtain a license from one of those states. Conversely, a nurse holding a license within the eNLC will have to apply for a license within one of the four aforementioned states.

Please take a look at this link from the NCSBN that will explain a few things further:
https://www.ncsbn.org/compacts.htm

Greg