A convenient new way to renew health care licenses is now available to more than half of the health care professionals in the state. This includes more than 82,000 registered nurses and nearly 25,000 physicians who can now renew their license online 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, instead of having to mail or bring in their annual renewal forms.

As of today, registered nurses and seven other professions can choose online renewal instead of renewing by mail or in-person. Forty-four of the 83 different types of health care professions can now use the web-based process. The remaining 39 professions will be added over the next six months, and by March 2013, online license renewal will be available to all health care professionals in Washington. By next June, new applications for health care licenses will also be available online for several categories of health care providers.

Converting to the online renewal feature is part of a Department of Health project to add the online option for all health professionals. Previously only mailed and in-person renewals were available.

The project started with license renewals instead of new license applications, because there are more renewals each year. This allows more providers to benefit from the 24-hour online renewal service. All licensed health care professionals will be able to renew their licenses online when the project concludes in June 2013.

The Department of Health website (www.doh.wa.gov) is your source for a healthy dose of information. Also information is available on the DOH’s Facebook and Twitter sites.