Licensing Breakdown for 20 Healthcare Professions in 2022

Findings

30 CE Hours in Alaska

Alaska mandates 30 CE hours every 2 years for registered nurses in the licensing_costs data for 55 professions. State Boards — Education Requirements, 2022 Registered nurses in Alaska require 2,649 education hours on average, per sample requirements data in the professions table. Alaska State Analysis pulls these values from the requirements table, where CE hours column joins to healthcare professions across 51 states. Renewal fees for healthcare licenses in Alaska total 72 dollars, matching the average renewal years of 2 across states in licensing_costs data. NCSL — Healthcare Licensing Database, 2022 The average fee for healthcare licenses reaches 175 dollars in Alaska, based on aggregated state data from the professions table.

Requirements table lists 30 CE hours for registered nurses in Alaska alongside 2-year cycles in the renewal_years column. Registered Nurse Details connects to licensing_costs data, showing Alaska's entry among 51 states. Healthcare professions in Alaska draw from 55 professions dataset, where CE requirements populate the professions table for comparisons. Sample requirements data confirms 2,649 education hours for registered nurses, enabling queries by state_fips in the professions table.

Licensing_costs data holds 72 dollars renewal fees for Alaska healthcare licenses, linking to average renewal years of 2 in the requirements table. Aggregated state data in professions table averages 175 dollars fees for healthcare across Alaska entries. IJ — Profession Category Reports, 2022 Requirements Breakdowns exposes these columns for 51 states, with Alaska's 30 CE hours standing out in healthcare professions.

Education Requirements by Profession

Healthcare categories average 2,811 education hours for masters-level professions across 51 states in the professions table. NCSL — Healthcare Licensing Database, 2022 One healthcare profession demands 48 months of apprenticeship in apprenticeship_data for electricians. Requirements table covers 20 healthcare professions averaging 100 dollars in initial fees, drawn from states like Alabama. Healthcare Category Page aggregates these from professions table columns for education hours and fees.

In the breakdown, 10 healthcare professions need criminal history checks across all 51 jurisdictions in requirements table. State Boards — Education Requirements, 2022 Healthcare categories feature 1 registered apprenticeship program for plumbers lasting 48 months in apprenticeship_data. Professions table joins apprenticeship months column to 51 states data, supporting queries for 20 healthcare professions. Sample requirements data lists education hours like 2,811 average for masters-level in healthcare.

The category shows 50 states requiring exams for registered nurses with initial fees averaging 112 dollars in licensing_costs data. IJ — Profession Category Reports, 2022 Category Trends Overview references professions table for 2,811 education hours average in healthcare masters-level across 51 states. Apprenticeship_data provides 48 months for one healthcare profession, integrating with requirements table for comprehensive breakdowns.

Requirements table holds 100 dollars average initial fees for 20 healthcare professions, linking to states like Alabama in professions table. Criminal history checks apply to 10 healthcare professions in 51 jurisdictions, per licensing_costs data columns. Education hours column in professions table averages 2,811 for masters-level healthcare, enabling per-state views across 50 states exam requirements.

24 Hours for Alabama Nurses

Registered nurses in Alabama require 24 CE hours per 2-year cycle in requirements table for healthcare professions. Healthcare professions total 97 licensed entries in Alabama, contributing to its 53.5 burden score in professions table. Initial fees for 20 healthcare professions average 100 dollars, drawn from requirements for states like Alabama. Registered Nurse Details details these in licensing_costs data.

Requirements table lists 24 CE hours for Alabama registered nurses alongside average renewal years of 2 across states. Alabama's 97 healthcare professions entries join to professions table via state_fips, supporting burden score calculations like 53.5. Licensing_costs data covers 100 dollars average initial fees for 20 healthcare professions in Alabama context.

Professions table aggregates 97 licensed entries for healthcare in Alabama, with 53.5 burden score from requirements table columns. Alaska State Analysis contrasts Alabama's 24 CE hours for nurses against other states in 51 jurisdictions. Average renewal years of 2 apply to Alabama healthcare licenses in licensing_costs data.

Healthcare professions in Alabama reach 97 entries in professions table, tying to 53.5 burden score and 24 CE hours for registered nurses. Requirements table provides 100 dollars initial fees average for 20 professions, including Alabama data points. Requirements Breakdowns queries these for CE hours column across states.

Alaska's 30 CE hours mandate for registered nurses in licensing_costs data contrasts with Alabama's 24 CE hours per 2-year cycle in requirements table, both drawn from professions table for healthcare across 51 states. Education requirements average 2,811 hours for masters-level healthcare professions, integrating apprenticeship_data's 48 months entries with 97 Alabama licensed professions and 53.5 burden score. Healthcare Category Page synthesizes these via 100 dollars initial fees average for 20 professions and 72 dollars Alaska renewals, enabling cross-state comparisons in licensing_costs data for 55 professions total.

Comparative jurisdictional notes

Occupational regulation in the United States rests primarily with each state's licensing board, typically convened under a Department of Consumer Affairs (DCA), Department of State, or Department of Health umbrella. State boards derive enforcement authority from their enabling statute (e.g., a Practice Act) and promulgate scope-of-practice rules through the state administrative-procedure process. Boards comprise mostly licensed practitioners, but include public members appointed by the governor. The FTC v. NC Board of Dental Examiners (2015) decision required that state-action immunity hinges on active supervision when the board is controlled by market participants — boards that lack supervisory oversight risk antitrust exposure.

For mobility across state lines, eligibility for license-by-endorsement (sometimes called license-by-reciprocity) typically requires verifying current good standing, official transcripts, and a board-to-board verification packet from the home jurisdiction. Reciprocity is rarely automatic — most boards require an application fee, a criminal-history check, and English-proficiency evidence even from US-licensed transferees. Read our methodology page for how we compared these portability terms across jurisdictions.

Interstate compacts have emerged as a faster portability mechanism than per-state endorsement. Active healthcare compacts include the Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) for RNs and LPNs, the Physical Therapy Compact, the Psychology Interjurisdictional Compact (PSYPACT), the Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology Interstate Compact (ASLP-IC), and the Counseling Compact; the Occupational Therapy Compact (OT Compact) and proposed Cosmetology Licensure Compact are in early-state ratification. Engineering uses the NCEES Records service rather than a formal compact, but credential portability is functionally similar.

Universal Recognition or Universal Licensing legislation (Arizona 2019 HB 2569, Pennsylvania 2020 Act 41, Iowa 2020, and roughly twenty other adopting states) requires boards to issue a credential to any out-of-state license-holder in good standing without a separate exam, subject to background check and minimum experience. Military-spouse expedited licensure statutes — modeled on the federal Servicemember Spouse Licensure Compact — further reduce friction for permanent-change-of-station moves. Veteran-services boards typically waive examination fees and provide expedited adjudication for service-connected applicants.

Criminal-history disqualification rules vary substantially. Some states apply a categorical bar for any felony; others use a nexus test requiring the conviction to bear on fitness for the regulated practice. Occupational-licensing reform Acts in roughly thirty-five states now require boards to publish a list of disqualifying offenses, accept petitions for predetermination, and grant provisional or temporary licenses pending adjudication. The NSO/NSOR (National Sex Offender Registry) check is mandatory for healthcare and education licensees in nearly every jurisdiction; the NPDB (National Practitioner Data Bank) flags adverse-action history for healthcare credentialees regardless of state.

Occupational-licensure reference notes

Statewide licensing apparatuses are enabled by sector-specific Practice Acts and supervised by sector-aligned boards: state nursing boards regulate RN, LPN/LVN, APRN, CNA, and CRNA practice; state cosmetology boards govern hairstylist, nail-technician, esthetician, electrologist, and barber licensure; state contractor licensing boards enforce general-contractor, electrical, plumbing, HVAC-R, and specialty-trade endorsements; state accountancy boards administer Certified Public Accountant (CPA) credentialing; state engineering boards govern Professional Engineer (PE) and Structural Engineer (SE) registration; state real-estate commissions oversee broker, salesperson, appraiser, and home-inspector licensure. Methodology page documents how board taxonomy was canonicalized across jurisdictions.

Examination administration is split between board-administered jurisdictional tests and uniform national examinations. NCSBN (National Council of State Boards of Nursing) administers NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN; NCEES (National Council of Examiners for Engineering and Surveying) administers the FE, PE, and PS exams; NBCOT (National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy) administers the OT certification exam; the FSBPT NPTE serves physical therapy; the ASWB Bachelor's, Master's, and Clinical exams serve social work; AICPA + NASBA jointly administer the Uniform CPA Examination; the NCARB ARE serves architecture; the MPRE and Uniform Bar Exam serve attorneys.

Continuing Education Units (CEUs) are quantified using sector-specific clock hours: nursing typically requires 20-30 contact hours per renewal cycle, cosmetology 4-16 hours, engineering 30 PDH (Professional Development Hours) per biennium, accountancy 80 hours per triennial CPE cycle. Approved providers must register with the relevant board (e.g., the AOTA Approved Provider Program for OT; AMA-PRA Category 1 designation for physician CME; NASBA Registry of Sponsors for accountancy CPE).

Healthcare credentialing introduces additional federal layers. The NPI (National Provider Identifier) is required of every billing healthcare provider — Type 1 NPIs identify individual rendering practitioners, Type 2 NPIs identify organizations or group billing entities. The NUCC Provider Taxonomy maps each NPI to a sector-aligned classification code (e.g., 207R00000X Internal Medicine, 363LA2200X Adult Nurse Practitioner, 225100000X Physical Therapist). Schedule II-V controlled-substance prescribing requires a separate DEA registration; the Mainstreaming Addiction Treatment Act of 2022 eliminated the X-DATA waiver, replacing it with a one-time controlled-substances training attestation. Mid-level prescribers operate under collaborative-practice agreements or full prescriptive authority depending on jurisdiction (the AANP Full Practice Authority map tracks state-by-state nurse-practitioner scope).

HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration) maintains workforce-shortage designations — HPSA (Health Professional Shortage Areas), MUA-P (Medically Underserved Areas / Populations), NHSC Loan Repayment Program eligibility — that influence both licensure incentives and supply-side regulation. BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) OEWS (Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics) and the O*NET taxonomy provide complementary classification systems for cross-sector workforce comparison; SOC (Standard Occupational Classification) codes underpin both. See methodology for the crosswalk we used.

License-discipline taxonomy follows a roughly common ladder across boards: letter of concern / advisory letter (informal counseling, generally non-public), fine, citation, probation, suspension (term-limited or indefinite), surrender in lieu of revocation (voluntary), and revocation (formal removal). Public-discipline records are searchable via state-board verification portals; healthcare adverse actions also report to the NPDB and the FSMB (Federation of State Medical Boards) Physician Data Center. Sunrise reviews (which evaluate proposed new licensure regimes against an evidence-based public-protection standard) and Sunset reviews (which evaluate continued board necessity) are codified in roughly thirty states under their administrative-procedure Acts. CLEAR (Council on Licensure, Enforcement and Regulation) publishes consensus standards that many boards adopt by reference.

Apprenticeship and tier progression are formal in the trades. Registered USDOL Apprenticeship programs combine on-the-job training (typically 2,000-8,000 hours) with related technical instruction (144 hours/year typical). Licensure typically progresses apprentice → journeyman → master with examinations or experience minimums at each tier. OSHA 10/30-hour cards, NCCER credentials, and trade-association certifications (e.g., NICET for fire protection, NATE for HVAC-R) layer on top of the state license without replacing it. NAHB and NAR publish parallel professional-designation pathways that signal continuing competence in residential construction and real-estate practice respectively.