CHICAGO, Jan. 18, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The eNLC will be implemented on Friday, Jan. 19, 2018 with 27 member states*. Two additional states, Colorado and New Mexico, are awaiting their respective governor’s signature on their legislation. As of this date, nurses with eNLC multistate licenses may begin practicing in eNLC states.
Nurses residing in an original NLC state that also enacted the eNLC are “grandfathered” into the eNLC if they held a multistate license on July 20, 2017. Nurses who reside in Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wyoming who wish to obtain a multistate license need to complete the compact license application on their respective board of nursing website.
“This opens a new and exciting era for nursing licensure,” comments Interstate Commission of Nurse Licensure Compact Administrators Chair, Sue Tedford, MNSc, APRN, RN, executive director, Arkansas State Board of Nursing. “The eNLC not only benefits nurses with increased mobility to practice, it also increases access to care for patients. Additionally, new provisions in the eNLC enhance patient safety.”
The eNLC allows for registered nurses (RNs) and licensed practical/vocational nurses (LPN/VNs) to have one multistate license, with the ability to practice in person or via telehealth in both their home state and other eNLC states. Licensing standards are aligned in eNLC 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 eNLC 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.
Boards of nursing (BONs) were the first health care provider regulatory bodies to develop a model for interstate practice with the original adoption of the NLC in 1997 and its implementation in 2000. While other health care provider regulatory bodies are just getting started in this process, the NLC has been operational and successful for more than 15 years.
Additional information about the eNLC can be found at https://www.ncsbn.org/enhanced-nlc-implementation.htm. For the latest information, follow the eNLC on Twitter or Facebook
About The Interstate Commission of Nurse Licensure Compact Administrators (ICNLCA)
The commission is a quasi-governmental and joint public agency of the party states created and established on July 20, 2017. The commission is the governing body of the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC). The NLC was originally adopted in 1997 and a comprehensively updated version was adopted in 2015 to supersede it. Demonstrating leadership in innovation, nursing is the first licensed health care profession to develop an interstate compact for multistate licensure. The purpose of the commission is to facilitate the states’ responsibility to protect the public as well as the exchange of information between party states, hallmarks of the mutual recognition model of licensure. Through this model, multistate licensure enables interstate practice by nurses who meet uniform licensure requirements.
About NCSBN
NCSBN’s membership is comprised of the BONs in the 50 states, the District of Columbia, and four U.S. territories — American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands and the Virgin Islands. There are also 30 associate members that are either nursing regulatory bodies or empowered regulatory authorities from other countries or territories.
NCSBN Member Boards protect the public by ensuring that safe and competent nursing care is provided by licensed nurses. These BONs regulate more than 4.5 million licensed nurses.
Mission: NCSBN provides education, service and research through collaborative leadership to promote evidence-based regulatory excellence for patient safety and public protection.
*Arizona, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
Contact: Dawn M. Kappel
Director, Marketing and Communications
312.525.3667 direct
312.279.1034 fax
dkappel@ncsbn.org