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Enhanced licensure compact enables telehealth via licensed nurses in 29 states

An update to the Nurse Licensure Compact expands the ability of licensed nurses to practice across state lines to 29 states. It has made more headway than Interstate Medical Licensure Compact for physicians which only includes 21 states to date.

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An update to the Nurse Licensure Compact expands the ability of nurses to practice across state lines to 29 states. It is designed to reduce the complexity of nurses practicing in multiple states but it will also help the telehealth industry.

The Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact (eNLC) compact includes patient safety provisions pertaining to criminal background checks by state and federal officials.  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, according to a press release. 

“In general what the compact facilitates is access and affordability,” said Dawn Kappel, director of marketing and communications with the National Council of State Boards for Nursing.

Nurses residing in one of the 25 states that approved legislation for the original nurse licensure compact, passed in 2000, will be grandfathered into the eNLC if they had passed legislation supporting it before January 17 this year. Nurses in five other states — Florida, Georgia, Oklahoma, West Virginia and Wyoming — will need to get to complete the compact license application on their respective board of nursing websites to obtain a multistate license, the release noted.

But there are other medical sectors with interstate compacts as well. As mHealth Intelligence notes, the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact for physicians, overseen by the Federation of State Medical Boards, went live in April 2017 and applies to 21 states. The Physical Therapy Licensure Compact, overseen by the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy, went into effect last year with 15 states.Governance guidelines have not been implemented yet.

Among telehealth companies using nurses and nurse practitioners who stand to benefit from the addition of more states to eNLC are Avizia, which acquired Carena last year, PointNurse,  and Maven, among others.

Photo: Ian Hooton, Getty Images

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