Are you a traveling therapist? Have you had to endure the headache of getting a state licensure for a location that you badly wanted to go to? Have you lost jobs that you badly wanted because of the licensure or the fact that the licensure took too long?
As an individual that has worked in this industry for the past eight years, state licensures seem to be getting worse and worse to obtain and becoming a bigger hassle than they need to be. Traveling therapists are at an all-time high right now throughout the U.S. However, due to state licensures having different requirements, demands, and timelines to obtain, it has been a headache for facilities, agencies, and travelers. Over the past few years I have noticed that states seem to be adding on to the timeline to get a state licensure, and it continues to get worse with no specific reason why.
I have in the past and again today strongly recommend a national traveling licensure for therapists looking to do travel assignments. I believe that if there was a national traveling licensure it would potentially alleviate the shortage of candidates for a lot of states needing additional help. As healthcare positions continue to rise we should be doing everything to help make it easier on those facilities and candidates looking to work and get out to these assignments.
With a national licensure you can charge a one-time fee to obtain the licensure and then an annual renewal fee to keep it up. I know I have spoken with travelers that would be very willing to do this if it allowed them to travel freely in the U.S. If a traveler were looking to go permanent in a certain state then that individual state can charge for that permanent licensure in that state, thus still giving those states the money/income they were wanting.
Right now there are more traveling nursing and therapy jobs than there are candidates. We need to be helping all these facilities that are hurting for additional help by allowing a national licensure. Most candidates don’t consider a lot of the states out there because they don’t want to waste money on a state licensure they may never use, but if they had a national licensure these states will have a much bigger increase in potential candidates. I understand it is income for each state, but we need to look at the bigger picture of making sure these facilities and patients are being taken care of. We need to get support behind having a national traveling licensure and getting the care to these facilities quickly.
In closing, I believe that if we allow this national licensure to happen it will increase the amount of individuals willing to try travel assignments and will increase the fill ratio for these jobs that go unfilled. If you are a traveling therapist and agree on a national licensure please like this article or comment on it.
