The Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) Celebrates Milestone Anniversary in 2025

/EIN News/ -- Chicago, Jan. 16, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The NLC is celebrating 25 years of multistate mobility and greater access to care. Implemented in 2000, the NLC has successfully reduced regulatory barriers to cross-border nursing practice.

The NLC allows registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical/vocational nurses (LPN/VNs) to have one multistate license, with the ability to practice in person or electronically in both their home state and other NLC states. Licensure requirements are aligned in NLC states for those nurses applying for a multistate license. Requirements include submitting to a federal and state fingerprint-based criminal background check, passing the NCLEX Examination, and having no encumbrances.

Interstate Commission of Nurse Licensure Compact Administrators (ICNLCA) Chair Pamela C. Zickafoose, EdD, MSN, RN, NE-BC, CNE, FRE, executive director, Delaware Board of Nursing, said, “This is a momentous historic occasion as we celebrate the first 25 years of the NLC! As the first professional license compact, the NLC has repeatedly demonstrated its value. The compact works well because of the collaboration between the member states, the support of NCSBN and the leadership of the Commission.”

There are currently 43 NLC members. Alaska, American Samoa, California, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New York, Northern Mariana Island and Oregon have yet to join the NLC.

“The NLC is the multistate model of licensure that has informed and inspired the health care compacts that have followed. It has been of great assistance to regulators, nurses, patients, and to military families, earning the formal support of the U.S. Department of Defense,” notes NCSBN CEO Phil Dickison, PhD, RN. “The NLC also provides the best possible preparation in the event of emergencies, natural disasters and national events because a workforce that is already vetted and immediately available can be called upon.”

About the Interstate Commission of Nurse Licensure Compact Administrators (ICNLCA)
The ICNLCA facilitates cross border nursing practice through the implementation of the nationally recognized, multistate license, the NLC. The ICNLCA enhances nurse mobility and public protection through maintaining uniform licensure standards among party state boards of nursing; promoting cooperation and collaboration between party states, facilitating the exchange of data and information between party states; and educating stakeholders. The ICNLCA is a quasi-governmental and joint public agency of the party states created and established on July 20, 2017. The Executive Committee is the seven-member elected leadership of the ICNLCA.

About the NLC
The NLC allows for RNs and LPN/VNs to have one multistate license, with the ability to practice in person or via telehealth in both their home state and other NLC states. There are 43 jurisdictions that are members of the NLC. Licensing standards are aligned in NLC states, so all nurses applying for a multistate license are required to meet the same standards, which include a federal and state criminal background check that will be conducted for all applicants for multistate licensure.

The NLC also enables nurses to provide telehealth nursing services to patients located across the country without having to obtain additional licenses. In the event of a disaster, nurses from multiple states can easily respond to supply vital services. Additionally, almost every nurse, including primary care nurses, case managers, transport nurses, school and hospice nurses, among many others, needs to routinely cross state boundaries to provide the public with access to nursing services, and a multistate license facilitates this process.

Dawn Kappel
                    Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) 
                    3122182418
                    dkappel@ncsbn.org