Professional license verification for recruiters: nurses, physicians and other licensed roles

To verify a nursing or professional license, look it up with the official verifier for that profession, never from a copy the candidate sends: Nursys QuickConfirm for RNs and LPN/VNs (free, run by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing), the state medical board's lookup for physicians, and the licensing board's own search for most other professions. Check the license type, state, status, expiration date and any discipline, save the result with the date, and match the license to the candidate's government ID. For healthcare roles, also search the HHS Office of Inspector General's exclusion list. Tools and rules below are as of October 2026.

A screenshot, a photocopy or a license number typed into a resume is a claim. Only the issuing board, or a service it designates, can confirm it.

Which official tool verifies which license?

What should you ask on the screening call?

Collect the details you need to verify before the call ends, so a missing license surfaces on day one rather than the day before a start date:

• License type (RN, LPN, APRN, MD, PA, CPA and so on) and the state or states that issued it.
• License numbers, and the name exactly as it appears on each license.
• For nurses: whether the license is multistate, and which state is their primary state of residence.
• Expiration dates, and any renewal in progress.
• Whether any license has ever been restricted, suspended or placed on probation. Board actions are public records you will see anyway; asking first lets the candidate explain.
• Required certifications for the role (BLS, ACLS, specialty certifications), with the card or certificate number.

If you run screens with Interview Signal, add these as must-ask questions in the question guide; they stay pinned until they have been asked, which is useful on a busy screening day. Questions by role are in the nurse phone screen questions and travel nurse screening questions.

How do you verify a nursing license, step by step?

1. Search Nursys QuickConfirm with the license details the candidate gave you. If the issuing board does not take part, use that board's own lookup.
2. Read the whole result, not just the word "active": license type, issuing state, expiration date, whether it is multistate, and any discipline or encumbrance.
3. Check the authority to practice where the job is. A multistate license from a compact state covers other compact states; a single-state license does not. Nurses changing their primary state of residence fall under the compact's 60-day rule, for which the compact publishes employer guidance.
4. Match the record to the person. Compare the name, and any other details the result shows, with the candidate's government ID at onboarding.
5. Search the OIG exclusion list for any role in a setting that bills federal healthcare programs.
6. Save the report with the date you ran it, and note who ran it.
7. After hire, enroll the nurse in e-Notify so a lapse or a new board action reaches you without anyone remembering to check.

Does a valid license prove the candidate is who they say?

No, and boards say so. The Alabama Board of Nursing tells employers to use QuickConfirm only during the interview process, says it "is not appropriate for employers validating identity", warns them to "exercise extreme caution regarding potential license fraud", and directs employers to enter hired nurses into Nursys e-Notify, which validates unique identifying data. A public lookup works from a name and number that anyone can find; someone claiming another nurse's license will pass it.

A license also only reflects what the board was shown. In January 2023 the HHS Office of Inspector General announced Operation Nightingale, a scheme involving more than 7,600 fake nursing diplomas and transcripts from Florida-based schools. According to the OIG, buyers used them to sit for the national nursing exam, obtained licenses in various states, and then found jobs in health care. A clean license lookup would not have revealed that. For roles where it matters, confirm the education too; see how to verify a candidate's degree, and for identity checks generally, how to spot candidate identity fraud.

Who is legally required to check, and what are the consequences?

• Healthcare employers and the exclusion list. The OIG says excluded individuals "can receive no payment from Federal health care programs" for items or services they furnish, order or prescribe, that "anyone who hires an individual or entity on the LEIE may be subject to civil monetary penalties", and that health care entities should routinely check the list for new hires and current employees.
• Hospitals and the NPDB. The NPDB Guidebook says hospitals are the only health care entities mandated by federal law to query the data bank: every two years for practitioners on the medical staff or holding privileges, and each time a locum tenens practitioner applies for temporary privileges. Locum agencies should expect the client hospital to run this query; the data bank is available only to entities the statutes make eligible.
• Motor carriers and the Clearinghouse. Under 49 CFR 382.701, employers "must not employ a driver" subject to testing to perform a safety-sensitive function without first running a pre-employment Clearinghouse query.
• State law, accreditors and contracts. Many requirements to confirm licensure come from state practice acts, accreditation standards and client contracts rather than federal law. Read your client agreements: agencies are often contractually responsible for verification before a placement starts.

If a screening company performs the license checks for you as part of a background report, the Fair Credit Reporting Act steps apply; see the FCRA background check process.

How often should you re-verify a license?

At hire, at every expiration date, and whenever a role changes to one needing a different license. Automate the rest: Nursys e-Notify sends status and expiration updates for nurses from participating boards, and the OIG's guidance is to check the exclusion list routinely for current employees, not just new hires. For travel and per diem staff who work across states, re-check authority to practice before each new assignment state.

What should you do when a license check shows a problem?

Criminal history that appears in a board order raises separate rules on when and how you can consider it; the ban-the-box interview questions page covers the basics.

What should agencies put in the client submittal?

State what you verified, how and when, in one line per credential, for example: "RN, Texas, multistate, active, expires 2027; no discipline shown; Nursys QuickConfirm run 20 October 2026" (an invented example). Attach or retain the report. If the client runs its own credentialing, say which checks you did and which you left to them, so neither side assumes the other covered it. The interview guide for nurses covers what to ask once the credentials are confirmed.