HELMS is the New Online Portal for Submitting Applications, Renewals, Status Changes, and Account Updates
Please do not access the former DOH Online Renewal or Online Application Portal services within SAW, as they have been retired.
The Healthcare Enforcement and Licensing Management System (HELMS) is the new licensing system for all health professionals and the state of Washington facilities. HELMS was recently launched to create efficiencies, improve user experience, streamline processing, strengthen data access, and reduce paper-based activities.
Important Guidelines for Using HELMS:
- As a nurse or applicant for a nursing credential, you will need to manually add the HELMS Portal when renewing or applying in HELMS for the first time. This step is completed once you have logged into your current or new Secure Access Washington (SAW) account.
- If you have held, currently hold, or have ever applied for a healthcare credential in Washington state, you will need to locate your account within HELMS to link these credentials to your account. Please only create a new account if this is the first time you have ever applied to the state of Washington for any healthcare credential.
- The Department of Health is no longer mailing courtesy renewal reminder cards out to licensees. If there is an email assigned to the existing account for a licensee, an automated email reminder from the HELMS database prompting online renewal will be sent to the email on file approximately 90 days before your renewal due date (birth date). Please view the online renewal instructions on our website for additional information.
Washington State Nurse License Applications
We process all license applications and renewals for Advanced Registered Nurse Practitioners (ARNP), Licensed Practical Nurses (LPN), Nursing Technicians (NTEC) and Registered Nurses (RN)
Note: We don’t process applications for Nursing Assistants. The Department of Health (DOH) does.
