The Counseling Compact is a multistate program under which a licensed counselor can obtain a privilege to practice in another participating state. Integral Healthcare Solutions (IHS) designs the tracking, credentialing and payer enrollment procedures and policies that a behavioral health group needs once its clinicians hold privileges, for your credentialing committee to review and approve. This page is for practice owners, clinical directors and credentialing managers at counseling groups whose clinicians work with clients in more than one state.
Last reviewed: October 2026.
What is the Counseling Compact?
The Counseling Compact is an interstate agreement among states, and it lets a licensed counselor obtain a privilege to practice in another compact state (page opened October 6, 2026, at the Counseling Compact Commission site). The Commission describes a privilege as the equal of a license to practice in that other state. The clinician gets it through a shared data system, and the page says it can take minutes.
As of the page opened October 6, 2026, ten states are live: Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming. Oklahoma went live on October 1, 2026. Privileges are available in those ten states, and to clinicians whose home state is one of them. The page says that for now the license titles it lists are the ones that qualify, one named for each state, and that a clinician who holds that license in a live state and lives there can apply for privileges in the other nine. Examples are LPC in Arizona, LMHC in Indiana and LPCC in Minnesota and Ohio.
The clinician must be licensed to assess, diagnose and treat behavioral health conditions independently. The page says recent graduates who are still completing supervised hours are not eligible, whatever their title.
Three more facts from the page drive a group's operations:
- The licensee has to complete and file the application, and the page says an employer, a third party or another representative cannot lawfully do that for the licensee.
- A privilege carries the home license's expiration date as of the day it is issued. A later home license renewal does not extend it on its own. The clinician must renew the privilege in CompactConnect once the home state has reported the new date.
- The page tells licensees to check with their employer, online platform and insurance company that each allows use of the privilege under its own policies.
The page also says the Compact does not set advertising rules for member states and points privilege holders to each state's law. IHS has not read the Compact's statute or rules for this page, and your counsel confirms how the Compact applies to your group.
Who needs to plan for it, and what triggers it?
Counseling groups with clinicians who hold a license in one of the ten live states, and who want to see clients in another live state, are the audience for this page.
Typical triggers, in IHS's reading as of October 2026:
- A clinician asks to see clients in another live state without applying for a second license there.
- The group opens an office or a telehealth service line in another live state.
- The credentialing committee has no place to record a privilege or its expiration date.
- A payer, an online platform or an insurer asks for evidence of a clinician's authority to practice in a state.
How IHS helps
IHS offers process expertise. IHS drafts the program, policies and clinical content for your clinicians to review and approve, and your organization adopts and runs it. The work sits in IHS's program development practice line.
- Read the Commission's page and the state board information you supply, and list each step that touches your group.
- Gap assessment of your current credentialing, tracking and payer enrollment procedures against those steps.
- Document and evidence mapping from each step (application, privilege number, renewal, lookup) to the procedure and record that covers it.
- Drafting the tracking procedure, credentialing policy updates and payer enrollment procedure for your credentialing committee. See credentialing program design for how IHS builds that kind of program.
- A trial run of the draft procedures using sample clinician records you supply.
- Readiness support while the committee revises and adopts the documents.
What you supply: a roster of clinicians with home license, title, expiration date, residence and the states where each sees clients, your current credentialing policy, your payer list, the policies of any employer or platform involved, and your counsel's answers.
The limit: IHS does not apply for privileges on behalf of clinicians, does not contact the Commission or any licensing board, and does not decide whether a clinician is eligible. Your clinicians file their own applications, and your organization submits anything it needs to submit.
What to have ready
This is IHS's planning list, built from the Counseling Compact Commission site page opened October 6, 2026, and not from any statute, rule or state board policy.
- A roster of each clinician's home state license, title, license number and expiration date.
- The state where each clinician lives and the states where each sees clients.
- The current list of live states from the Commission's page, with the date you checked it.
- Which clinicians are licensed to assess, diagnose and treat independently, and which are still completing supervised hours.
- Each clinician's privilege number and privilege expiration date, taken from the clinician's own dashboard once issued.
- A calendar of home state renewal dates, since a privilege does not update when the home license renews.
- Your credentialing policy and your credentialing committee's charter.
- The employer, online platform and insurance company policies on use of a privilege that you already hold.
- Your payer list and your current payer enrollment procedure.
- Any marketing copy that names states where you offer services.
- Your counsel's answers on how the Compact applies to your group.
- The name of the person who will own the tracking record.
Printable version of this checklist (PDF)
Bring what you have to the free introductory call.
How does the Compact compare with other routes?
Which route fits depends on your clinicians, your states and your counsel's advice.
| Route | What to know |
|---|---|
| Privilege to practice through the Compact | The Commission describes it as the equal of a license in another compact state. The clinician applies personally through a shared data system, it is available in the ten live states, and it expires with the home state license unless renewed in CompactConnect. |
| Individual license in each state | IHS did not read any state board's requirements for this page, so your clinicians and the boards confirm them. |
| Spreadsheet tracking | A spreadsheet can hold the data. IHS's reading, October 2026: the open questions are who updates it, how often, and what happens when a date passes. |
| Documented tracking procedure | A written procedure names an owner, the steps, the review schedule and the committee that receives the results. IHS drafts it for your credentialing committee to approve. |
| Related programs | If you are weighing a verification partner for clinician files, see our credentialing CVO page. For telehealth compliance work, see our telehealth and digital health page. |
What it costs
The Commission's page uses current Ohio privilege fees in its examples, including an initial privilege fee of $55 (Counseling Compact Commission site, page opened October 6, 2026). That is Ohio's example. The Commission's fees page (page opened October 6, 2026) lists a state fee and an administrative fee for each live state, and the totals differ by state. The page says timing affects both the duration of a privilege and its fees. Verify current fees with the Counseling Compact Commission and the state licensing board. IHS scopes each engagement after a free introductory call.
What this is not
- IHS is a consulting firm, not a law firm. This page is not legal advice, and IHS gives no opinion on whether the Compact or any state rule applies to your group or a clinician. That question belongs to your counsel.
- IHS does not apply for privileges, does not contact the Counseling Compact Commission or any licensing board, and does not decide a clinician's eligibility.
- IHS does not promise that a payer, an online platform, an employer or an insurer will accept a privilege. Each sets its own policy.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Counseling Compact and which states are live?
It is a multistate program under which a licensed counselor can obtain a privilege to practice in another participating state. As of the Commission's page opened October 6, 2026, ten states are live: Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming.
Who can get a privilege to practice and who cannot?
The page says that for now the license titles it lists qualify, one named for each state, and that a clinician who holds that license in a live state and lives there can apply for privileges in the other nine live states. The clinician must be licensed to assess, diagnose and treat behavioral health conditions independently, so recent graduates still completing supervised hours are not eligible whatever their title. Whether a particular clinician qualifies is for that clinician, the state licensing board and your counsel.
Can a group apply for its clinicians?
No. The page says the licensee has to complete and file the application, that it includes legal attestations, and that an employer, a third party or another representative cannot lawfully do that for the licensee. IHS does not apply for clinicians either.
What does a group have to track once clinicians hold privileges?
A privilege takes the home license's expiration date as of the day it is issued, and a later home license renewal does not extend it on its own. To extend it, the clinician renews the privilege in CompactConnect once the home state has reported the new license date. In IHS's reading, a tracking record holds each clinician's home license date, each privilege and its expiration, and the states where the clinician sees clients.
How does a group verify privileges?
The page says the privilege number appears on the clinician's dashboard almost immediately, and that an entity can look up a privilege in the CompactConnect search at app.compactconnect.org/Search. No paper certificates are issued.
What do employers, platforms and insurers say about using a privilege?
The page tells licensees to check that their employer, online platform and insurance company allow use of the privilege under those parties' own policies. IHS has not read any payer's rules on privileges, so this page does not say how any payer treats them.
What changes as more states go live?
As of the page opened October 6, 2026, 29 additional states and the District of Columbia are completing the steps to issue and receive privileges, and the Commission adds jurisdictions as they meet its requirements. The page says some may need more time, and IHS has no timeline for any state. IHS's reading, October 2026: a tracking procedure written now should list states by status so that a state can move from pending to live without a rewrite.
What should a group have ready?
IHS's planning list starts with a roster of each clinician's home state license, title and expiration date, the state where each clinician lives and the states where each sees clients. It adds your current credentialing policy, the employer, platform and insurer policies you hold, and your counsel's answers on how the Compact applies.
How is this different from state licensing or telehealth rules?
The Commission describes a privilege as the equal of a license in another compact state. Telehealth and licensure law are outside what this page covers, and IHS did not read any state's rules for it. Your counsel and the state licensing boards confirm how those rules apply to your group.
What does IHS do and not do?
IHS designs the group's privilege tracking, credentialing and payer enrollment procedures and policies for your credentialing committee to review and approve. IHS does not submit applications, does not contact the Commission or any licensing board, and does not decide whether a clinician is eligible.