Utah may be one of the first states in the country to accept nursing licenses across state lines if a piece of proposed legislation becomes law.
The Utah Health Policy Commission unanimously endorsed the proposal this week for an interstate compact, which will be discussed when the Legislature convenes Monday.Last month, delegates to the National Council of State Boards of Nursing approved the interstate compact, which has been called a "historic" event for nursing. The Utah Nursing Association also has unanimously endorsed the concept.
Under the proposed model, nurses holding a license in one state could work in any state that has also approved the compact. Nurses must follow all the regulations of the state in which they are practicing. The compact would apply to both licensed practical and registered nurses.
Part of the impetus for the interstate compact is the rapidly changing environment of medicine. More and more nurses are working in tele-medicine, answering phone queries about ailments. Often those phone calls take place across state lines, prompting the national council to push for a new model for nursing that includes national recognition of licenses.
It's not so different from the way the interstate compact for drivers' licenses works, said Craig Jackson, director of the state Division of Occupational and Professional Licensing. You may have a Utah driver's license, but you can drive in California or Vermont or anywhere else so long as you obey their rules.
Laura Poe, executive administrator for the Utah State Board of Nursing, is also director at large for the National Council of State Boards of Nursing. She said compacts would benefit both individual nurses and their employers, especially regional care facilities that operate features such as Intermountain Health Care's Health-line. That service answers 400,000 calls a year.
Rural and border areas will also benefit. Without a compact, a nurse practicing in the Four Corners region would have to be licensed in four states, a costly duplicative process, Poe said.
At the national meeting, about two-thirds of the states approved the language of the compact proposal, Poe said, which will probably translate into about the same percentage adopting it.
But some states won't be able to get approval from their legislatures until next year, which means Utah could be on the forefront of the changes.
"We would truly be taking the lead," Poe said.