Washington charges $50 for the original application, among the lowest anywhere, then attaches a $16 annual HEAL-WA surcharge and a $50 annual physician health program surcharge. Renewal is $247 every two years plus $32 and $100 in the same surcharges, which is where the real number lives.
$50 to apply is a genuinely low fee. It is also nowhere near what a Washington license costs, and the rule says so plainly.
What WAC 246-918-990 sets
$50 for the original application. Then two surcharges assessed per year: $16 for HEAL-WA and fifty for the physician health program.
Renewal is $247 every two years, plus $32 in HEAL-WA and $100 in physician health program surcharges across that period. Late renewal is $124.
So the biennial cost of holding a Washington license is $379, against a headline renewal figure of $247.
What the surcharges fund
HEAL-WA is the University of Washington’s Health Evidence Resource, which gives licensed clinicians in the state access to clinical literature databases. $16 a year for that is, on any honest accounting, a bargain.
The physician health program surcharge funds the state’s program for clinicians with substance use or mental health concerns. It is an insurance-like levy across the profession, and it is one of the more defensible line items in any state fee schedule.
Why this matters beyond Washington
Because the pattern is everywhere and Washington is unusually honest about it. Florida attaches a $5 unlicensed activity fee. Tennessee adds a $10 state regulatory fee to both application and renewal. Most states have something.
A headline application fee is therefore a poor comparison tool. Reading the whole schedule takes two minutes and changes the answer.
And the costs no schedule includes
Fingerprinting through the state vendor. NCCPA verification. Primary source verification from every board that has ever licensed you. Transcripts from your program.
For an applicant with three prior licenses those will exceed the $50 application several times over, which is the real reason a cheap application fee tells you very little.
Per year, not per cycle
Both surcharges are assessed annually even though the license renews biennially, which is why the renewal invoice carries $32 and $100 rather than $16 and $50. It is a small distinction that makes a spreadsheet wrong by half.
Read the rule’s wording rather than the invoice you remember, because the wording is what governs and it says per year.
Washington is a compact member
Which is the fact that actually decides the value. A $50 application in a member state supports privileges into every other member state from 2027 — the same as Ohio’s $400 and Missouri’s $28.
Set against that, Washington is one of the better-value entries into the compact, provided you read past the first line of the schedule and budget the surcharges you will pay every year for as long as you hold it.
Common questions
- How much is a Washington PA license?
- $50 for the original application under WAC 246-918-990, plus annual surcharges of $16 for HEAL-WA and $50 for the physician health program.
- What is the HEAL-WA surcharge?
- A per-year assessment funding the University of Washington’s Health Evidence Resource for Washington State, which provides licensed clinicians with access to clinical literature databases.
- What does Washington renewal cost?
- $247 every two years, plus $32 in HEAL-WA surcharges and $100 for the physician health program. Late renewal is $124.
- Is Washington in the PA compact?
- Yes. Washington is a member state, so a Washington license will support privileges in other member states once applications open.
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