Collaborative Practice Agreement · PA
Alaska Collaborative Plan for Physician Assistants
Required. The Collaborative Plan is the written instrument Alaska law names for a Physician Assistant working with a physician. Below: the board that governs it, what it must contain, and the terms it has to carry.
Reflects currently codified 12 AAC 40/AS 08.64, which requires a board-approved collaborative plan with no hours-based sunset. SB 89 (2026) would create a ≥4,000-hour conditional pathway to reduced-agreement 'collaboration,' secondary-sourced as effective ~Sept. 16, 2026 — its enrolled text could not be verified against akleg.gov in this research pass; re-verify before that date.
What a Alaska Collaborative Plan must contain
Governed by the Alaska State Medical Board and the Alaska Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.
The Physician Assistant ("PA") shall not practice without a collaborative plan, on a form provided by the Alaska State Medical Board, naming the Physician as primary collaborating physician, identifying the Physician's license number and specialty, naming at least one alternate collaborating physician, and stating the Physician Assistant's beginning date of employment.
The Physician shall establish a periodic method of assessing the Physician Assistant's practice, including personal observation and evaluation of the Physician Assistant's clinical skills and ongoing assessment of the Physician Assistant's practice. Effective September 16, 2026, Alaska law no longer requires the Physician to be physically present with the Physician Assistant, regardless of geographic location. Alaska law does not fix a numerical limit on the number of Physician Assistants with whom a physician may collaborate.
- The Collaborative Plan on file also carries 1 scope, 1 education, 1 registration clauses, generated in the document itself.
Statutes and rules cited
- Alaska Stat. § 08.80.337statute
Authorizes a pharmacist to provide patient care services, including prescribing and administering drugs and devices, under a collaborative practice agreement with a written protocol approved by a practitioner; requires the pharmacist to recognize the limits of the pharmacist's education and training. Cited from the Alaska Board of Pharmacy's own published compilation of its statutes and regulations.
Terms it has to carry
Ratio, proximity, chart review, meeting and prescribing terms the agreement has to carry, from the state's supervision rules.
Proximity
Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
Alaska State Medical Board guidance requires a 'periodic method of assessment' (personal observation/evaluation, continuing instruction) rather than a fixed radius; PAs in remote areas may practice without the collaborating physician physically present so long as direct telephonic/electronic/video access exists (secondary-sourced summary of AS 08.64/board guidance).
Supervision ratio
Up to 4 at a time
Commonly cited as 12 AAC 40.430 (secondary-confirmed; verbatim regulatory text could not be independently retrieved in this research pass) — treat the number as high-confidence but unverified verbatim.
Chart review
Not codified — left to the agreement
Meeting cadence
Not codified — left to the agreement
Prescriptive authority
Separate prescribing terms required · controlled substances permitted
A separate prescriptive-authority application/approval is required specifically for controlled substances (Board form med0017), distinct from the base collaborative plan. No PA-specific Schedule II day-supply cap was found (contrast with AK's explicit APRN opioid rule). Alaska PDMP (AS 17.30.200) check-in applies.
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Alaska Professional Corporation Act (AS 10.45) requires all shareholders/directors/incorporators of a professional corporation to hold licenses in the profession the PC is organized to practice — a medical PC's owners must be licensed physicians, not PAs or laypeople.
Legal sources for these rules (4)
- AS 08.64 — Alaska Medical Board (Physician Assistants)
- 12 AAC 40 — Physician Assistant Licensure and Practice
- Alaska State Medical Board — PA Scope of Practice Guidelines
- SB 89 (2026) — PA Scope of Practice Modernization (secondary-sourced; enrolled text unverified — akleg.gov blocked automated fetch)
About Alaska's rules
All four APRN roles (NP, CRNA, CNM, CNS) share one statutory framework (AS 08.68.850, 12 AAC 44) with FULL independent practice and no collaborative agreement. PA law is mid-transition: SB 89 would add a 4,000-hour conditional pathway effective ~Sept. 16, 2026, but its enrolled text couldn't be verified — current codified law (below) still requires a standing collaborative plan with no experience-based exit.
Other clinicians in Alaska: see the state overview.