Guide

The compact map: IMLC, PSYPACT, Counseling, Social Work, and the APRN wait

Summary

Five interstate compacts now speed cross-state practice, and your license type decides which one you can use: the IMLC for physicians, PSYPACT for psychologists, the Counseling Compact for licensed professional counselors, and the Social Work Licensure Compact for social workers. Nurse practitioners have no operational APRN compact yet; the Nurse Licensure Compact covers only the registered-nurse layer. Each grants authority under its own rules, and membership grows every year.

By Gale Editorial · Updated 2026-07-27. Every figure cited to a dated source. How we write.

Which compact matches your license?

Compacts are grouped by profession, not by specialty, so start with the board that licenses you. Physicians use the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact 1Ref 1Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Commission (2026).Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.The IMLC as an expedited pathway to a full medical license in each member state, not a single multistate license.; psychologists use PSYPACT 2Ref 2PSYPACT Commission (2026).PSYPACT.PSYPACT's single Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology across member states and its state adoption.; licensed professional counselors use the Counseling Compact 3Ref 3Counseling Compact Commission (2026).Counseling Compact.The Counseling Compact's practice privilege for licensed professional counselors and its recent move to issuing privileges.; clinical social workers use the Social Work Licensure Compact 4Ref 4Social Work Licensure Compact (2026).Social Work Licensure Compact.The Social Work Licensure Compact's multistate privilege and its state-by-state implementation status.. Psychiatric nurse practitioners have no operational advanced-practice compact and are covered only at the registered-nurse layer by the Nurse Licensure Compact 5Ref 5National Council of State Boards of Nursing (2026).NURSECOMPACT — Nurse Licensure Compact.The Nurse Licensure Compact covering the RN and LPN layer of a PMHNP, distinct from any advanced-practice compact..

Your license	Compact	What it grants
MD or DO	Interstate Medical Licensure Compact	An expedited full license in each member state you request
Psychologist	PSYPACT	One authority to practice telepsychology across member states
Licensed professional counselor	Counseling Compact	A privilege to practice in each member state
Clinical social worker	Social Work Licensure Compact	A multistate privilege as states implement it
RN or LPN (the nurse layer of a PMHNP)	Nurse Licensure Compact	One multistate nursing license

The pattern splits two ways. The IMLC issues you a separate license in each state you name, while PSYPACT and the counseling and social work compacts issue a single privilege that travels. That difference decides how you count fees and renewals, and it is the practical heart of working with licensure compacts.

The rule a compact does not change

Whatever compact you hold, telehealth is regulated by the state where the patient is physically located at the time of the visit, not where you sit 6Ref 6U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2026).Licensure — Telehealth policy.The rule that telehealth licensure is governed by the state where the patient is located, with compacts as the exception pathway.. A compact is the fastest lawful way to become licensed or privileged in that patient's state; it never exempts you from being authorized there. If a client travels to a non-member state for a week, your compact authority may not follow them, so you confirm coverage before the session rather than after.

This is why a compact solves a logistics problem, not a jurisdiction problem. It shortens the path to authority in each state; the underlying rule that the patient's location controls stays exactly where it was, and it is the first thing to check when someone on your panel moves or travels.

The IMLC: a license per state, issued fast

The Interstate Medical Licensure Compact is the physician route, and it produces something specific: not one multistate license but an expedited full license in each member state you name, issued by that state's own board 1Ref 1Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Commission (2026).Interstate Medical Licensure Compact.The IMLC as an expedited pathway to a full medical license in each member state, not a single multistate license.. You qualify once through a designated state of principal licensure, then request a license in each additional member state. Renewals and fees remain per state. A psychiatrist running a telehealth panel across several states uses the IMLC to skip repeating the full application in each one.

Because the output is a stack of real state licenses, the IMLC also covers in-person care in those states, not just telehealth. The trade is cost and upkeep: every license is a separate renewal you calendar, and every state's continuing-education rule applies on top.

PSYPACT: one privilege to practice telepsychology

PSYPACT works differently. A qualifying psychologist obtains one Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology that reaches every member state, instead of a separate license in each 2Ref 2PSYPACT Commission (2026).PSYPACT.PSYPACT's single Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology across member states and its state adoption.. You keep a home-state license, secure the authority, and may then treat clients located in any member state, with temporary in-person practice covered within limits. Learning how PSYPACT authority actually works — the E.Passport credential and the annual renewal — matters before you schedule the first client in a member state.

Because PSYPACT rides on your home-state license, an action against that home-state license can suspend the traveling authority everywhere at once. A single privilege is convenience and concentrated risk in equal measure, which is worth weighing against the per-state license model the IMLC uses.

The APRN gap: why nurse practitioners wait

Nurse practitioners, including psychiatric-mental-health NPs, do not yet have an operational advanced-practice compact that travels the way PSYPACT or the Counseling Compact do. The Nurse Licensure Compact issues one multistate license, but it covers the registered-nurse and LPN role only — not the APRN prescriptive authority a PMHNP actually practices under 5Ref 5National Council of State Boards of Nursing (2026).NURSECOMPACT — Nurse Licensure Compact.The Nurse Licensure Compact covering the RN and LPN layer of a PMHNP, distinct from any advanced-practice compact.. The separate APRN Compact has been enacted in several states but has not reached the threshold to activate.

Until it does, a PMHNP licenses individually as an APRN in each patient's state while only the RN layer travels under the Nurse Licensure Compact. Plan any cross-state expansion around that gap, because for prescribing clinicians it is the slowest lane on this map.

Before you rely on any compact

A compact privilege is neither free nor permanent: each carries its own fee, its own renewal cycle, and eligibility conditions you have to keep meeting. Compact maintenance means tracking renewal dates and disciplinary-reporting rules across every state whose privilege you hold, because a single adverse action can cascade through all of them at once. Moving your home state can reset your eligibility, so sequence that move deliberately rather than in a rush.

And when you decide to drop a state you have been serving, coverage planning for the patients on that panel comes first — an orderly transfer or referral, not a silent disappearance. The compact makes entering a state fast; leaving one still takes the same clinical care it always did.

Common questions

No. A compact only reaches its member states, and only once both your home state and the patient's state are participating. Even then, the patient's physical location at the time of the visit governs, so a client who travels to a non-member state can put you outside your authority. Confirm both states are covered before you schedule the session.

Many. The Interstate Medical Licensure Compact is an expedited pathway to a separate full license in each member state you request, not a single license that covers them all. You qualify once through your state of principal licensure, then hold and renew each state license individually. The speed is in the application process, not in consolidating the licenses into one.

For now, only the Nurse Licensure Compact, and it covers your registered-nurse layer rather than your APRN prescriptive authority. There is no operational advanced-practice compact yet, so you still license individually as an APRN in each patient's state. The APRN Compact has been enacted in some states but has not activated, so do not plan around it as if it already had.

Not necessarily. A state can pass the compact into law well before the commission is issuing or honoring privileges there. Enacted means the legal framework exists; operational means privileges are actually flowing. Always confirm the compact is issuing privileges and that both your home state and the patient's state are live before you rely on it for a visit.

It depends on the compact. The IMLC produces full state licenses, so it covers in-person care as well as telehealth. PSYPACT centers on telepsychology but allows limited temporary in-person practice. The counseling and social work compacts grant a practice privilege that generally includes both. Check the specific compact's terms for the state where the patient is located.

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References

1.Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Commission (2026). Interstate Medical Licensure Compact. Interstate Medical Licensure Compact Commission. link ✓The IMLC as an expedited pathway to a full medical license in each member state, not a single multistate license.
2.PSYPACT Commission (2026). PSYPACT. PSYPACT Commission. linkPSYPACT's single Authority to Practice Interjurisdictional Telepsychology across member states and its state adoption.
3.Counseling Compact Commission (2026). Counseling Compact. Counseling Compact Commission. link ✓The Counseling Compact's practice privilege for licensed professional counselors and its recent move to issuing privileges.
4.Social Work Licensure Compact (2026). Social Work Licensure Compact. Social Work Licensure Compact. link ✓The Social Work Licensure Compact's multistate privilege and its state-by-state implementation status.
5.National Council of State Boards of Nursing (2026). NURSECOMPACT — Nurse Licensure Compact. National Council of State Boards of Nursing. link ✓The Nurse Licensure Compact covering the RN and LPN layer of a PMHNP, distinct from any advanced-practice compact.
6.U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2026). Licensure — Telehealth policy. Telehealth.HHS.gov. linkThe rule that telehealth licensure is governed by the state where the patient is located, with compacts as the exception pathway.

https://www.gale.care/for-providers/th-compacts-overview · 6 sources. Competitor details are cited to dated public sources and maintained as they change; figures are estimates, not commitments. Synthetic demonstration.

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