A provision in Pennsylvania's professional licensing compact bill imposes new per-practitioner fees on health services that operate across state lines.
Most Pennsylvania health services owners haven't heard about a cost buried in HB2774—but if you employ or contract with physician assistants, dentists, dental hygienists, audiologists, speech-language pathologists, or social workers who practice in multiple states, it will affect your budget.
The bill authorizes Pennsylvania to join four interstate professional compacts designed to streamline licensing across state lines. That part sounds straightforward. But Section 3.B (Chapter 55, page 74) introduces a requirement that many business owners are still discovering: practitioners who hold licenses in multiple states through these compacts must pay new "compact privilege fees" in each state where they provide services.
Here's the practical impact: If you employ a physician assistant who sees patients in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, or a speech-language pathologist who works with clients across Pennsylvania and Ohio, those practitioners will owe compact privilege fees to each Remote State where they're licensed to practice. These aren't one-time costs—they're ongoing renewal fees.
For small and mid-sized health services, this creates a new line item in payroll and compliance budgets. You'll need to track which practitioners hold licenses in which states, monitor fee schedules in each state, and ensure timely payment to maintain their ability to practice across state lines. Missing a renewal deadline could interrupt service delivery.
The fees themselves aren't set in the Pennsylvania statute—each state in the compact sets its own rates. That means costs will vary and may change over time, making multi-state budgeting less predictable.
HB2774 becomes effective immediately upon enactment, per Section 2 (page 145). However, the actual implementation—including how Pennsylvania will process compact privilege applications and collect fees—will depend on regulations that the state is still developing. This means there's a window between the bill's enactment and when practitioners can actually begin using the compact privilege to practice across state lines.
Health services should monitor announcements from the Pennsylvania Department of State and their respective licensing boards for details on application timelines and fee amounts.
If your organization employs or contracts with any of these licensed professionals and operates in multiple states, now is the time to:
• Identify which practitioners currently hold or may need multi-state licenses
• Understand the fee structure in each state where you operate
• Plan for these costs in your 2024-2025 budget cycle
• Designate someone to track renewal deadlines once the compact goes live
The compacts themselves offer real benefits—faster licensing, reduced paperwork, lower barriers to multi-state practice. But those benefits come with new administrative and financial obligations that shouldn't surprise you mid-year.
Source: HB2774, Section 3.B (Chapter 55, Professional Licensure Compact), page 74; Section 2 (Effective Date), page 145. Pennsylvania General Assembly.