Nurse Licensure Compact Commission Annual Report Now Available

CHICAGO – The Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) Commission Annual Report for fiscal year 2021 (FY21), the period from Oct. 1, 2020 to Sept. 30, 2021, is now available on NCSBN’s website. It provides a comprehensive overview of the activities, achievements and financial performance of the Interstate Commission of Nurse Licensure Compact Administrators (ICNLCA) throughout the report period. It also comprises a snapshot of recent accomplishments and a preview of NLC Commission goals in fiscal year 2022 (FY22).

 

The ongoing challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated firsthand the importance of the NLC as the solution for modernizing licensure of nurses. The NLC allows for greater nurse mobility, public protection and access to care. It enables nurses to provide telehealth nursing services to patients located in other NLC states without having to obtain additional licenses.

 

With multistate licensure, nurses from multiple states were easily able to respond and supply vital services in other NLC states. Primary care nurses, nurse case managers, transport nurses, school home health and hospice nurses, among many others, needed to routinely cross state boundaries to provide the public with access to nursing services, especially in states heavily impacted by the pandemic. Multistate licensure facilitated this process.

 

“This NLC annual report reflects the collaboration and nimbleness of the NLC Commission in responding to various pandemic-related regulatory issues,” says 2021 NLC Commission Chair Kimberly Glazier, MEd, RN. “I am proud of the commitment we have toward increasing nationwide access to care, protecting the public and eliminating unnecessary and burdensome regulatory processes for nurses and employers.

 

“In a short time, the majority of the nation has moved to a health care delivery model driven by the needs of patients,” continues Glazier. “The pandemic makes it ever-clear the NLC does work by allowing expedited, safe access to licensed, qualified and competent nurses. I am proud of the NLC commissioners, committees and key stakeholders who have worked tirelessly to ensure the NLC’s success, and look forward to what the future holds.”

 

For more information about the NLC, visit www.nlc.gov, or contact  nursecompact@ncsbn.org.

 

The NLC is an interstate agreement that allows nurses (RNs and LPNs/VNs) to practice with one multistate license, issued from the home state, to practice in all states that are part of the NLC. Licensure requirements are aligned in NLC states, so all nurses applying for a multistate license are required to meet those same standards, including submission to federal and state fingerprint-based criminal background checks.

 

The commission is a quasi-governmental and joint public agency of the party states created and established on July 20, 2017. The Commission fulfills the compact objectives through a means of joint cooperative action among the party states. The Executive Committee is the seven-member elected leadership of the commission.

 

To enhance cross border practice and nurse mobility, thereby providing for greater accessibility to safe health care.

 

The mission of the Interstate Commission of Nurse Licensure Compact Administrators (ICNLCA) is:

To facilitate cross border nursing practice through the implementation of a nationally recognized, multistate license. ICNLCA enhances nurse mobility and public protection primarily through: