Delaware Enacts Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN) Compact

CHICAGO – Gov. John Carney signed the APRN Compact into law in the state of Delaware on Aug. 4, 2021. When implemented, the compact will allow an APRN to hold one multistate license with a privilege to practice in other compact states. 

 

Through the APRN Compact, APRNs will have the ability to travel from state-to-state to deliver care or provide telehealth services across state borders in other compact states. This will increase patient access to high-quality care with the assurance that that their practitioner has met rigorous uniform standards no matter where that care is provided.

 

Additionally, the governor also signed House Bill 141, the Companion Bill to the APRN Compact, which removed Board of Medicine oversight over APRNs and also eliminated the restrictive transition to practice period. Delaware APRNs will now be granted full practice authority upon licensure and the APRN Compact propelled the removal of these restrictions.

 

Pamela C. Zickafoose, EdD, MSN, RN, NE-BC, CNE, FRE, executive director, Delaware Board of Nursing, commented, “I would like to thank our General Assembly legislators, Gov. Carney, and Lt. Gov. Hall-Long who supported both bills. In addition, I am very appreciative of the dozens of organizations and APRNs who wrote letters of support, contacted their legislators, and met with various stakeholders to educate them and reinforce the purpose and importance of these bills. The positive results were the product of professional nurses working together and communicating the same message to achieve a common goal.  This is an historic event for APRNs in Delaware and I hope other states will follow our lead!”

 

Delaware is the second jurisdiction to have enacted the APRN Compact. North Dakota was the first to enact on March 9, 2021. The APRN Compact will be implemented when seven states have enacted the legislation. 

 

"We must continue the work to increase access to health care for Delawareans and delivery of state-of-the-art services," said Rep. Melissa Minor-Brown, MSN, RN, who sponsored the bills. “These two bills are a step in the right direction and I'm grateful for all the support."  

 

For more information about the APRN Compact visit  aprncompact.com.

 

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