Proposed nurse license reciprocity heats up committee meetings

A bill attempting to make it easier for out-of-state nurses to work in Minnesota drew opposition Tuesday from the main nurses’ union in the state on the grounds it would erode local standards.

Sponsored by Rep. Joe Schomacker (R-Luverne), HF3848 would enter Minnesota into the Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact. It would mean that Minnesota nurses would be licensed in the 29 other states that also are part of the compact. Out-of-state nurses could practice in Minnesota without a specific Minnesota license, if they have a multi-state license under the compact.

The House Health and Human Services Reform Committee, which Schomacker chairs, approved the bill, as amended, on a split-voice vote. It now goes to the House Health and Human Services Finance Committee.

All four states that border Minnesota are part of the compact, Schomacker said, and the evolving nature of health care and technology requires flexibility in licensing.  

“Minnesota nurses care for patients in all 50 states,” Schomacker said. “The expansion of telehealth services and case management makes the ability (of) nurses to deliver care across state lines essential.”

Shirley Brekken, executive director of the Minnesota Board of Nursing, compared having a license under the compact to how a driver’s license works. Regardless of the laws where the license was issued, a nurse under the compact has to obey the laws in whichever state he or she is nursing in, Brekken said.

Shannon Cunningham, government relations head for the Minnesota Nursing Association, said the compact would bring substandard nurses from other states into Minnesota. Nurses from some other states — especially those in the South — have standards that aren’t as high as Minnesota, she said.

Minnesota nurses would still need to comply with mandated continuing education but nurses from other states wouldn’t, she said. The existing licensure system is already streamlined, and already incentivizes out-of-state nurses to come over, Cunningham said.

“We have yet to understand the need to bypass this system,” she said.

The companion is SF3305, sponsored by Sen. Andrew Mathews (R-Milaca). It awaits action by the Senate Health and Human Services Finance and Policy Committee.

The House Government Operations and Elections Policy Committee heard a bill clone Tuesday. Also sponsored by Schomacker, HF4169 was approved by the committee on an 11-6, party-line vote and sent to the House Civil Law and Data Practices Policy Committee. It has no Senate companion.

House Public Information Services writer Melissa Turtinen contributed to this story.