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Committee backs interstate compact to ease licensing for respiratory therapists
Summary
Senate Bill 25-44, establishing the respiratory care interstate compact, received testimony from practitioners and professional groups who said the compact would speed cross-state practice and help staff hospitals and rehab facilities; committee reported the bill to calendar.
The Health & Welfare Committee advanced a bill to join the respiratory care interstate compact, which would allow licensed respiratory therapists from participating states to practice across state lines without obtaining separate state licenses.
Craig Rooks, director of the respiratory department at Vanderbilt Medical Center, said the compact would "help us get staff in to healthcare facilities more efficiently," citing shortages that surfaced during the COVID-19 pandemic. Joel Wilmeth, president of the Tennessee Society for Respiratory Care, said the compact mirrors an existing nursing compact and would reduce administrative delay while preserving Tennessee's disciplinary authority.
Committee members had no substantive objections in the hearing and the bill was reported to the calendar for further legislative consideration.
