Opinion: Nurse Licensure Compact puts Washington state patients in safer position

Elizabeth Hovde of the Washington Policy Center believes increasing patients’ access to care is good policy. So is making it possible for workers to carry their skills across state lines.

‘Increasing patients’ access to care is good policy. So is making it possible for workers to carry their skills across state lines’

Elizabeth Hovde
Washington Policy Center

Nearly 1,300 nurses with a multistate license, instead of a Washington-specific one, are working in Washington state right now. That’s according to the Washington State Board of Nursing and thanks to lawmaker passage of Senate Bill 5499, which allowed Washington state to join the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC). The bill was signed into law by Gov. Jay Inslee in April.

State regulations used to prohibit qualified, licensed, out-of-state nurses from working in the state until they acquired a Washington state license. That was time-consuming and added another cost for these workers. Having an unnecessary pause in nurses’ ability to help patients was also foolish. Knowing that membership in the NLC could help patients, hospitals and workers made joining the compact a long-sought policy goal for the Washington Policy Center.

That SB 5499 finally got rid of the regulatory hurdle earlier this year is reassuring, especially given our state’s nurse staffing shortage and as strikes that include caregivers and hospital workers continue to appear in headlines across the state.

Washington state is now one of 39 that have enacted NLC legislation and are part of the compact fully or awaiting implementation. Guam and the Virgin Islands have also joined the compact. Another state, Massachusetts, has pending compact legislation. Having more states as members makes for an even better situation should these states or territories find themselves in need of nurses in a staffing shortage or when a health care situation like COVID-19 comes along. (Another priority of state lawmakers is and should be addressing the dwindling workforce.)

Here is an update on where Washington state is in the process of full membership: Nurses in other NLC states who hold an active multistate license can practice and provide nursing services in Washington state in-person or via telehealth. These nurses can stop renewing their single-state, Washington license. For nurses who reside in Washington state, a multistate license isn’t available yet. The state nursing board tells me that will happen in a few months at the start of 2024. Direction for applying for a multistate license should be available on the Washington State Board of Nursing website at that time.

Increasing patients’ access to care is good policy. So is making it possible for workers to carry their skills across state lines.

Elizabeth Hovde is a policy analyst and the director of the Centers for Health Care and Worker Rights at the Washington Policy Center. She is a Clark County resident.