Recent blog posts

Last spring, Illinois dispensary workers and consumers noticed there was mold in a popular brand of pre-rolled marijuana joints. State regulators determined that numerous batches were potentially contaminated. The Chicago Sun Times “watchdog” section broke the story on December 10, 2021. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) is the licensing agency for Illinois marijuana dispensaries and their employees. The Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (Act) provides for the controlled legalization of adult-use cannabis in Illinois. Pursuant to the Act,…

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation’s (IDFPR) license renewal procedures recently underwent a conversion to permit online filing. As a result of the conversion, IDFPR was late in the initiation of accepting license renewals from several licensed professionals, including: Certified Public Accountants/Registered Certified Public Accountants Cosmetologists Dentists Dental Anesthesia Permit Holders Dental Hygienists Dental Specialists Estheticians Interior Designers Orthotists Pedorthists Physical Therapy Assistants; and Prosthetists On September 21, 2021, IDPFR issued an official release stating that licensees’ renewal deadlines had been extended to December 31, 2021. Currently 150,000 licenses are up for renewal….

Although there are varying types of licenses for nurses, all types of licensed nursing professionals are equally underappreciated within their industry. It is a longstanding issue in our culture that nurses are simply there, and expected to be, with almost no acknowledgment of their incredibly difficult work environments and their understated utility in society. Simply put, we need nurses to survive, to heal, to navigate difficult medical situations, and despite the fact that we collectively know this, there is very little support…

When the pandemic started in March of 2020, many individuals found themselves in an unfamiliar situation: they had unlimited time at home. Individuals were encouraged to quarantine and stay at home to help us better navigate the pandemic. With this situation came one simple trend: an extreme boom in pet adoption. People far and wide were adopting their first pet, or adding more pets to their home. This was, in part, perhaps due to boredom, or perhaps due to the desirable…

The dental industry experienced several unique conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic, comparative to other licensed professionals. Prior to these conditions, dentists and hygienists certainly already had particularly sensitive working conditions with strict PPE protocols. Given the fact that their industry relies directly on work within the mouth, a pandemic that is spread through the nose and mouth is particularly detrimental to the ability to safely perform work. Just like many industries, most dental practices initially closed at the start of the pandemic. However, due to the…

The clerical aspect of data collection in the medical industry is not often included in the immediate list of important concerns for licensed medical professionals. However, what data is collected, how it is collected, how it is distributed, and how it is accessed are just a few of the common, overarching issues that licensed medical professionals may personally encounter, and certainly a larger issue in the industry as a whole. One component that makes the data itself problematic is the manner by which…

Licensed chiropractors know that it requires extensive training, practice, and investment in time and money to become a professional licensed chiropractor in the state of Illinois. Despite the fact that chiropractors are governed by the Illinois State Medical Disciplinary Board, there is still a prevalent general stigma against licensed chiropractors due to years of false conflation/comparisons to other licensed medical professionals, and the general idea that chiropractors perform some kind of pseudo-medicine. We at Williams & Nickl know that is not the…

Any licensed social worker across the country faces similar commonplace issues that directly stem from nationwide systemic problems such as: poverty, racism, classism, domestic and community violence, accessibility to education, and so much more. Social workers often find themselves helping families who are struggling to get their basic needs met, and it can be extremely disillusioning/disheartening to witness the experiences and daily lives of these individuals. Worse yet, many social workers cite the inability to resolve these issues, or provide substantive assistance when…

Most towns, or at least larger cities, have a veterinary hospital to take care of our furry family members. The demand for veterinary services is not decreasing, especially with the rise in pet adoptions during the pandemic, when more people were home to take care of and raise animals. So while veterinary hospitals are not hurting for clients, there can still be a loss in profit depending on particular conditions of operation, pricing, and business protocols. Veterinary hospitals owned and operated by…

Dentists and hygienists endure many industry-specific challenges with their respective professional licensure. Potentially the biggest area of concern and hardship is insurance, both that the patient has/does not have insurance, and if insurance is involved, struggling to work with the insurance companies to get patients’ procedures effectively covered. In the same vein, on the professional/business side, dental offices also must contend with insurance companies to get paid for their own work that they do. These struggles are industry-wide, and do not have a blanket…