AOTA-NBCOT® Joint Initiative: Developing the Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact

This article explains the need for a licensure compact in the occupational therapy profession and describes the joint American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) and National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy (NBCOT®) initiative to develop and implement the compact. Despite uniformity in occupational therapy licensure laws across the states, the ability to obtain and maintain licenses in multiple jurisdictions remains complicated and time consuming. Occupational therapy practitioners will benefit from an improvement to the existing state licensure system that would allow them to obtain a privilege to practice in multiple states through an interstate licensure compact. The licensure compact will be implemented by a commission composed of state regulators from each participating state. In September 2019, AOTA and NBCOT issued a joint statement announcing that the two organizations would be collaborating to support the development of an interstate licensure compact for occupational therapy. This article highlights the need for the Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact, the process used to develop the compact's language, and the state legislative progress made to date. It also outlines the next steps needed to advance Occupational Therapy Licensure Compact legislation as well as efforts needed to operationalize the Occupational Therapy Compact Commission.