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 Joining an interstate compact that would allow out-of-state nurses to practice
in Illinois could ease the burden of Chicago’s nursing shortage, but legislation
aimed at that goal was opposed by union interests.
Faced with a shortage of staff to meet its needs, the city of Chicago outsourced
some of its public health staffing to a nursing temp agency in Florida at a cost
of nearly $5 million a year, according to WBEZ reporting. That was before the
COVID-19 pandemic struck, which caused the demand for nurses to skyrocket across
the country. There are 16 nurse vacancies the health department is trying to
fill.
While filling those positions is slowed by a long onboarding process, Chicago’s
situation is indicative of a nationwide nursing shortage that has contributed to
an increasing reliance on temporary staff.
Illinois was facing an impending shortage of nurses even before the pandemic,
and COVID-19 put additional stress on a labor force already stretched thin. Gov.
J.B. Pritzker issued executive orders in spring 2020 easing some of the
restrictions to getting more medical personnel where they were needed, but the
General Assembly should do more to address a long-term nursing shortage.
Nurse Ali Conrad said a multi-state license would let her help in pandemic hot
spots.
“The compact license could help afford me the opportunity to contribute to
fighting the pandemic and sharing my skills and knowledge at other hospitals
without the headache of obtaining new licenses for every different state I
travel to.”
She also volunteers with Camp One Step for Chicago-area kids with cancer.
“We travel with the kids to camp programs, some of which are out of state in
Wisconsin and Utah,” Conrad said. “As a nurse volunteering for their programs, I
recently had to apply for licenses in those other states to be able to volunteer
as a nurse with them. So, compact licensing can also make volunteer work and
giving back to the community outside of Illinois more accessible for me, too.”
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Legislation introduced in the Statehouse could have
made it easier to find qualified candidates to fill positions, but
was opposed by labor interests. With bipartisan support in both the
Illinois House and Senate, joining the Nurse Licensure Compact would
have opened the door to all nurses holding multi-state licenses from
the 34-state compact. It would have increased the talent pool and
allowed out-of-state nurses to live and work in Illinois without
having to obtain an additional license.
Illinois nurses would have seen their career
horizons broadened as well, and would have been able to easily take
jobs in those other 34 states and help in areas hardest hit by the
pandemic. Both Senate and House versions of the bill garnered
bipartisan support with 19 sponsors in the Senate and 15 in the
House. The Senate version passed unanimously out of the Senate
Licensed Activities Committee, yet the bill never received another
vote.
The Illinois AFL-CIO, the Illinois Nurses Association, and the
Chicago Federation of Labor were some of the organizations that
filed public notices of opposition to this bill. Meanwhile, AARP
Illinois, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital, the Health Care
Council of Illinois, the Illinois HomeCare & Hospice Council, and
dozens of other organizations, institutions and individuals all
registered their support for the bill.
Despite its strong start, unions pulled the plug on this bill.
The Nurse Licensure Compact would not be a panacea for Chicago’s
staffing struggles, but it would have given the state a larger pool
of candidates to recruit from, with the added benefit of providing
greater career opportunities for Illinois nurses. But in the face of
union opposition, that opportunity was forestalled. |
