CPM Licensing Fees

Keeping midwifery licensing fees affordable is essential to ensuring equitable access to the profession and maintaining a sustainable workforce. In many states, Nurse-Midwives (CNMs) benefit from lower licensing fees because their boards are often conflated with nursing boards, which have a larger pool of licensees to share administrative costs. In contrast, Certified Professional Midwives (CPMs) frequently face higher fees, as states typically calculate fees by dividing the cost of running a midwifery board by the anticipated number of licensees—a number that is usually smaller for CPMs. Additionally, newly licensing states may set unnecessarily high fees due to the unfounded assumption that midwifery boards will require significant resources to investigate complaints. This assumption is not supported by data and places an undue financial burden on CPMs, whose annual salaries are generally lower than those of CNMs due to the limited number of clients CPMs can admit into their practice while providing the individual focused community birth model. Keeping licensing fees affordable supports the financial viability of midwifery practices and encourages a more diverse and representative midwifery workforce.