In 2024, the NLC is envisioned to have been designed with the support of the nursing profession, enabling them to practice nursing from different states by just possessing a single multistate license. The new measure helps to streamline the licensing process while improving healthcare practitioner opportunities and flexibility.
Whether you’re a travel nurse or a registered nurse seeking more flexibility, understanding the NLC is essential for navigating your career in 2024. This guide will explore the NLC, its benefits, and the latest updates for nurses.

Table of Contents

1. NLC Overview
2. Compact Licensure States
3. As human beings do
4. Non-Compact Nursing Juridiction
5. What LGA Matters
6. NLC CERT
7. Overview of APRN Compact States

NLC Overview

The Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) allows nurses to hold a single multistate license, enabling them to practice in multiple states without needing additional licenses. The NLC was established in 2015 to streamline the licensing process for nurses and facilitate practice across state lines. The eNLC, which replaced the original NLC, standardizes nursing requirements among compact member states. As of 2024, the majority of states are compact members, with others pending legislation.

Compact Licensure States

A state where the NLC has been fully implemented is a compact state. A nurse in a compact state can work freely in any other compact state without that additional requirement of licensing. Compact states in 2024 will be:

– Arkansas
– Colorado
– Florida
– Kentucky
– Texas
– Virginia

The NLC allows registered nurses to practice across state borders without interruption, benefiting travel nurses, telehealth practitioners, and those moving for employment.

States Pending Compact Nursing Agreement

Several states have pending legislation to join the NLC, allowing their residents to practice in multiple states.

– Alaska
– Hawaii
– New York

“Nurses need the NLC legislation to practice across compact states without multiple licenses, allowing for travel nursing and better healthcare access nationwide.”

Non-Compact Nursing Jurisdictions

Nurses needed individual state licenses to work across non-compact jurisdictions. For example, nurses had to maintain licenses in both Nevada and Oregon, leading to additional costs and background checks.

For Nurses

The NLC offers major benefits to the licensees, particularly those traveling or working in telehealth positions. The major advantages are:

Cost and Time Efficient: Nurses would not go through the hassle of applying to another state for the licensing processes. They would practice in any compact state without applying for another license after obtaining a multi-state license.

Prompt Reaction to Healthcare Emergencies: Nurses possess the ability to swiftly transition across state lines to provide assistance during emergencies, including natural disasters or public health crises, without the necessity of awaiting new licensure validations.

Increased Mobility: Traveling nurses and telehealth providers can practice without the headache of having to re-apply for license in some states, each time they take on a new assignment.

A licensed nurse in Georgia can work in Florida or Alabama without obtaining additional licenses in those states, saving time and money.

For Patient

The NLC also benefits patients by increasing access to care in areas that are under-served or rural. Key benefits:

Access to Care: Nurses may be crossing state lines more often to alleviate shortages on staff and provide care where the demand has increased.

Healthcare Emergency Support: In times of emergency, the NLC allows the nurses to assist across various states without an impulse delay, hence ensuring the patient gets the care in time.

Telehealth Services: The NLC allows for telehealth services between compact states, promoting the patient’s ability to receive a wider, streamlined set of clinical services from nurses and other health professionals.

The true targeted stipulation of NLC is that patients are assured they can receive care from the eligible nurses across the entire country.

NLC Charges

For a nurse to obtain a multistate nursing license in the NLC, the following would be necessary:

1. United States Citizenship: Nurses must hold a valid U.S. Social Security Number.

2. Accredited Education: Nurses must graduate from an accredited, board-approved nursing program.

3. NCLEX Pass: Passing the NCLEX-RN or NCLEX-PN exams in nursing.

4. Criminal Background Check: Criminal background screening including fingerprinting for all staff who are nurses.

5. Unencumbered License: Practicing nurses must possess an active license to practice in nursing without restrictions under discipline.

6. Residency: A nurse must declare legal residency in a member state of the NLC for a multistate license.

Nurses with felony convictions or nursing-related misdemeanors may not be eligible for a multistate license, along with nurses in voluntary disciplinary alternative programs which must be self-reported to the board of nursing.

“A nurse licensed in Georgia can work in Florida or Alabama without needing additional licenses in those states.”

Everything in APRN Compact States

The APRN Compact will, to APRNs, bring exactly the same benefits regarding multi-state licensure that RNs and LPNs presently enjoy in working across state lines. It is, however, at this infantile stage, not plugging directly into the RN/LPN compact.

States with Established Compact for APRN Delaware – North Dakota South Dakota – Utah

Once fully implemented, at least seven states, APRNs can now practice in other compact states with a single multi-state license to provide even greater opportunities particularly for telehealth and rural health care providers.

Conclusion:

The Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) will modernize the nursing profession in 2024, making one multistate license sufficient for the holder to practice across the whole nation. It will implement a simplified process of licensure, slashing costs and increasing mobility of nurses—most greatly impacting travel and telehealth nurses. The NLC optimizes access to health care now for patients in need, particularly in low-resourced rural areas and during emergency times. Since the states continue joining the NLC, the trend should spur an encouragement to the nurses so that they remain up to benefit from such opportunities maximally. The future of nursing continues to get momentum: the opportunities are quite wide open now than ever, with greater assurance that responses to the needs of the patients come widely and rapidly.