COVER STORY
Cutting red tape for nursing licenses
In the years since the global pandemic struck, our healthcare system has been strained to the breaking point. All across the country, we’re seeing severe nursing shortages that are creating severe stresses for both hospitals and staff.
To help ease the nursing shortage in Illinois, I introduced HB5047. This law, which passed the House last week, would provide automatic short-term licensing for nurses who meet all requirements, enabling them to work for up to six months under appropriate supervision while the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation processes their licensure paperwork.
At a time when more nurses are desperately needed, it doesn’t make sense to force qualified nurses to wait four to six months to get their licenses approved. I’ve even heard that some hospitals have rescinded job offers to good nurses because of these licensing delays.
When our healthcare system is dealing with a workforce shortage, we need to make it easier for qualified nurses to start working and stay on the job. By streamlining this process for nursing professionals, we can help make our healthcare system work better for all of us.