HJBR May/Jun 2019

46 MAY / JUN 2019 I  Healthcare Journal of BATON ROUGE column nursing LSBN is preparing to implement the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) on July 1, 2019, enacted in 2018 through Act 577, signed into law by Governor Edwards on May 31, 2018. An essential component of our plan is education of our nurses about the NLC. In this month’s article, narrative and graphics are provided that explain the NLC and advise nurses on how it will be implemented and how currently licensed nurses in the state of Louisiana can convert their current single state license to a multistate license. The general purposes of the NLC are to: 1. Facilitate the state’s responsibility to protect the public’s health and safety; 2. Ensure and encourage the cooperation of party states in the areas of nurse li- censure and regulation; 3. Facilitate the exchange of information between party states in the areas of nurse regulation, investigation and ad- verse actions; 4. Promote compliance with the laws gov- erning the practice of nursing in each jurisdiction; 5. Invest all party states with the authority to hold a nurse accountable for meet- ing all state practice laws in the state in which the patient is located at the time care is rendered through the mutual recognition of party state licenses; 6. Decrease redundancies in the consid- eration and issuance of nurse licenses; and 7. Provide opportunities for interstate practice by nurses who meet uniform licensure requirements. Key provisions of the NLC KEY POLICY CHANGES FROM THE CURRENT NLC ARE BOLDED. Article I Findings and Declaration of Purpose • Facilitate the states’ responsibility to protect the public’s health and safety; • Ensure and encourage the cooperation of party states in the areas of nurse li- censure and regulation; • Facilitate the exchange of information between party states in the areas of nurse regulation, investigation and ad- verse actions; • Promote compliance with the laws gov- erning the practice of nursing in each ju- risdiction; • Invest all party states with the authority to hold a nurse accountable for meet- ing all state practice laws in the state in which the patient is located at the time care is rendered through the mutual rec- ognition of party state licenses; • Decrease redundancies in the consider- ation and issuance of nurse licenses; and • Provide opportunities for interstate practice by nurses who meet uniform li- censure requirements. ARTICLE II DEFINITIONS Reference model legislation at nursecompact.com. ARTICLE III GENERAL PROVISIONS AND JURISDICTION • Eligibility and uniform licensure re- quirements for a multistate license • Authority to take adverse action against a multistate licensure privilege with ap- plication of state due process laws • Nurse compliance with state practice laws • Exclusion of advanced practice nurses (APRNs). There is a separate compact for APRNS called the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Compact. • Grandfathering provision ARTICLE IV APPLICATIONS FOR LICENSURE IN A PARTY STATE • Required verification of licensure infor- Review of the 2018 LSBN Initiatives: Implementation of Nurse Licensure Compact Rule Changes