Laura J. Wood, DNP, MS, RN
Senior Vice President, Patient Care Services
Chief Nursing Officer
Sporing Carpenter Endowed Chair for Nursing
RWJ Foundation, Executive Nurse Fellow
300 Longwood Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
Phone: 617-355-6488 fax 617-730-0632
laura.wood@childrens.harvard.edu
The Honorable John Keenan
Senate Chair, Joint Committee on Public Health
State House, Room 413B
Boston, MA 02133
The Honorable Jeffrey Sanchez
House Chair, Joint Committee on Public Health
State House, Room 130
Boston, MA 02133
October 28, 2013
Statement in Support of Senate Bill 1060/House Bill 2006
An Act Adopting the Nurse Licensure Compact in Massachusetts
Dear Chairmen Keenan and Sanchez:
On behalf of the Department of Nursing and Patient Care Services at Boston Children’s Hospital (BCH),
thank you for the opportunity to submit written testimony in support of S.1060 An Act Adopting the Nurse
Licensure Compact and H.2006 An Act Relative to Nurse Licensure Compact in Massachusetts. We
strongly believe that joining the Nurse Licensure Compact and granting nurses the authority to practice
across state lines is a common-sense adjustment that would better align nursing licensure laws to the
demands of providing high quality nursing care in today’s health care environment.
At BCH, we believe that continuity of care is a pillar of high quality care. Nurses are a critical part of
ensuring such continuity as they can efficiently and effectively guide patients to the right level of care at the
right time in a complex, multidisciplinary system. As we seek to provide broader access to pediatric
specialty care, we believe that access to follow-up nursing care, regardless of the physical location of the
patient at the time that they seek such care, is critical to continuity.
If Massachusetts continues to disregard the nursing licensure compact, and we continue to require nurses to
practice in a state-based licensure model, we are disadvantaging the thousands of patients who seek care at
BCH. Additionally, this approach creates conflict on the part of the nurses whose care is being sought. In
the case of a patient seeking follow-up nursing care from outside Massachusetts, the nurse must choose
between doing what is right for their patient and practicing within the state-based laws of their license. This
tension would be eliminated by Massachusetts joining the Nurse Licensure Compact.
As an employer of more than 1600 nurses, we would like our nurses to focus on patient care, not seeking
duplicative state-based nursing licenses to comply with regulations established years ago. We ask that you
give S.1060 and H.2006 a favorable report. Again, thank you for the opportunity to submit written
testimony and for your kind consideration. Should you have any questions, please feel free to contact me.
Respectfully submitted,
Laura J. Wood DNP, MS, RN
Senior Vice President, patient Care Services
Chief Nursing Officer
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Executive Nurse Fellow
Boston Children’s Hospital
Ashley Waddell MS, RN, CNOR
Staff Development Specialist
Clinical Education and Informatics
Boston Children's Hospital
Phone- 617-355-1905
Email- ashley.waddell@childrens.harvard.edu