The Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission (NCQAC) completes the licensing for all nurses in our state, including RNs, LPNs, ARNPs and Nursing Technicians. Over the last several months, the NCQAC worked with the Governor’s office to give top priority to temporary practice permit applications for nurses to assist with the urgent and critical care needs during the COVID-19 response. This included processing expedited application requests from qualifying healthcare facilities. Beginning July 1, 2021, the NCQAC is legislatively required to complete licensure of complete applications within seven days and has staffed accordingly to meet this requirement. In accordance with this new expectation, the NCQAC will no longer be processing expedited application requests from individual facilities.
The NCQAC would also like to remind any nurses who came to Washington under the Emergency Volunteer Healthcare Provider (chapter 70.15 RCW) program to apply for a permanent license in Washington State. This will avoid a lapse in licensure in the event the Governor declared state of emergency ends. To apply for a Washington State Nursing License, please visit our licensing webpage.
Thank you,
Paula R. Meyer MSN, RN, FRE
Gender Pronoun: She/her
Executive Director
Nursing Care Quality Assurance Commission
Washington State Department of Health