Asking for an upgrade
WSNA has long opposed the Nurse Licensure Compact for a variety of reasons — and in 2019, WSNA spent nearly 20 hours meeting with the members of the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission to discuss those concerns. In the end, many of our key concerns remained.
October 9, 2020 • 1 minute, 30 seconds to read
This story was published in the Fall 2020 issue of The Washington Nurse.
WSNA has long opposed the Nurse Licensure Compact for a variety of reasons — and in 2019, WSNA representatives spent nearly 20 hours meeting with the members of the Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission (NCQAC) to discuss those concerns. In the end, many of our key concerns remained.
While WSNA opposed a 2020 bill to enter Washington state into the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC), we committed to working with other states to ask the NLC administrators to make changes at the national level that would address our concerns, which are shared by many states that are, like Washington state, leaders in health care.
What follows here is:
- A letter to the NLC administrators (through the National Council of State Boards of Nursing) signed by 11 states outlining our concerns with the NLC and asking for changes
- A series of myths vs. facts about the NLC
- A look at the 10 best and worst health care states and whether they participate in the NLC
Until the concerns outlined in the letter to NLC administrators and in the myths vs. facts are addressed at the national level, the NLC is not a good option for Washington state.
Letter to the NLC administrators
This is a letter to the NLC administrators (through the National Council of State Boards of Nursing) signed by 11 state nurses associations outlining our concerns with the NLC and asking for changes.
Top 10 best states for health care
The following states are considered the best states for health care as of 2019. The ranking is based on health care access, health care quality and public health. Data comes from U.S. News & World Report's Health Care Ranking from August 2020.
Members of the Nurse Licensure Compact are identified.
- Hawaii
- Massachusetts
- Connecticut
- Washington
- Rhode Island**
- New Jersey
- California
- Maryland (member of compact)
- Utah (member of compact)
- Minnesota
**Rhode Island was in the original compact and chose not to join the enhanced compact in 2017.
Top 10 worst states for health care
The following states are considered the worst states for health care as of 2019. The ranking is based on health care access, health care quality and public health. Data comes from U.S. News & World Report's Health Care Ranking from August 2020.
Members of the Nurse Licensure Compact are identified.
- Mississippi (member of compact)
- Arkansas (member of compact)
- West Virginia (member of compact)
- Oklahoma (member of compact)
- Alabama (member of compact)
- Louisiana (member of compact)
- Kentucky (member of compact)
- Tennessee (member of compact)
- Wyoming (member of compact)
- Missouri (member of compact)