Nevada has a nursing shortage. This presents a serious challenge to patients seeking access to care and health care providers properly staffing facilities.
Unfortunately, Nevada policymakers seem to be laser-focused on taking the wrong approach to fixing the problem.
Mandating nurse staffing ratios certainly will not help. Nevada already doesn’t have enough nurses to fill current vacancies. Forcing employers to hire nurses who are not even part of the labor force is silly.
The Nurse Licensure Compact — which allows nurses to in states that participate to have a multistate license — appears to be a viable solution. But when we dig into the research on its effects and consider existing policy in Nevada, we think there is a much better approach.
Research, at best, is mixed with respect to how the Nurse Licensure Compact affects nurse mobility. One study finds no evidence that the compact improved mobility, even when focusing on workers in border counties. Another study finds some evidence of increases in mobility, but it is a bit more limited in its scope.
Scholarly evidence aside, compacts in 2025 are outdated. Compacts address one occupation at a time. Nevada, in general, has a skilled worker shortage. Will Nevada seek to pass a compact for every licensed occupation?
If so, businesses and consumers will be waiting a very long time. The Nevada Legislature has been grappling with the Nurse Licensure Compact for more than 15 years.
Compacts are also expensive, requiring member states to provide valuable resources to maintaining commissions, committees and bureaucracy. They also often waste taxpayer resources, relying on federal funds to get started or become operational.
There is a better approach, and all Nevada has to do is look next door. Six years ago, Arizona passed one of the most significant labor market reforms in decades. It’s called “universal recognition.”
Continue reading at The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Kihwan Bae is a research associate at the Knee Regulatory Research Center at West Virginia University.
Edward Timmons, PhD, is Vice President of Policy at the Archbridge Institute. He leads the institute's economic policy strategy, identifying focus areas and disseminating work to key stakeholders and policymakers. His own research focuses on labor economics and regulatory policy; he is regularly asked to provide expert testimony to U.S. states on occupational licensing reform and the practice authority of nurse practitioners. Dr. Timmons received his Ph.D. in economics from Lehigh University and his B.A. in economics and actuarial science from Lebanon Valley College. He publishes a weekly newsletter on Substack with the latest research and policy insights surrounding occupational licensing.
Economics of Flourishing
Nevada has a nursing shortage. This presents a serious challenge to patients seeking access to care and health care providers properly staffing facilities.
Unfortunately, Nevada policymakers seem to be laser-focused on taking the wrong approach to fixing the problem.
Mandating nurse staffing ratios certainly will not help. Nevada already doesn’t have enough nurses to fill current vacancies. Forcing employers to hire nurses who are not even part of the labor force is silly.
The Nurse Licensure Compact — which allows nurses to in states that participate to have a multistate license — appears to be a viable solution. But when we dig into the research on its effects and consider existing policy in Nevada, we think there is a much better approach.
Research, at best, is mixed with respect to how the Nurse Licensure Compact affects nurse mobility. One study finds no evidence that the compact improved mobility, even when focusing on workers in border counties. Another study finds some evidence of increases in mobility, but it is a bit more limited in its scope.
Scholarly evidence aside, compacts in 2025 are outdated. Compacts address one occupation at a time. Nevada, in general, has a skilled worker shortage. Will Nevada seek to pass a compact for every licensed occupation?
If so, businesses and consumers will be waiting a very long time. The Nevada Legislature has been grappling with the Nurse Licensure Compact for more than 15 years.
Compacts are also expensive, requiring member states to provide valuable resources to maintaining commissions, committees and bureaucracy. They also often waste taxpayer resources, relying on federal funds to get started or become operational.
There is a better approach, and all Nevada has to do is look next door. Six years ago, Arizona passed one of the most significant labor market reforms in decades. It’s called “universal recognition.”
Continue reading at The Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Kihwan Bae
Kihwan Bae is a research associate at the Knee Regulatory Research Center at West Virginia University.
Edward Timmons
Edward Timmons, PhD, is Vice President of Policy at the Archbridge Institute. He leads the institute's economic policy strategy, identifying focus areas and disseminating work to key stakeholders and policymakers. His own research focuses on labor economics and regulatory policy; he is regularly asked to provide expert testimony to U.S. states on occupational licensing reform and the practice authority of nurse practitioners. Dr. Timmons received his Ph.D. in economics from Lehigh University and his B.A. in economics and actuarial science from Lebanon Valley College. He publishes a weekly newsletter on Substack with the latest research and policy insights surrounding occupational licensing.
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