Collaborative Practice Agreement · NP
Illinois Written Collaborative Agreement for Nurse Practitioners
Required. The Written Collaborative Agreement is the written instrument Illinois law names for a Nurse Practitioner working with a physician. Below: the board that governs it, what it must contain, and the terms it has to carry.
Full practice authority pathway created by 2017's Public Act 100-0513 (225 ILCS 65/65-43). Until the attestation threshold is met, every NP in active clinical practice must maintain a written collaborative agreement with a physician, with limited exceptions for hospital/ambulatory-surgical settings.
Independent practice requires: ≥4,000 hours of clinical practice under a written collaborative agreement after first attaining national certification; ≥250 hours of continuing education/training; a notarized full-practice-authority attestation filed with IDFPR.
What a Illinois Written Collaborative Agreement must contain
Governed by the Illinois Board of Nursing and the Illinois Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.
Unless the Nurse Practitioner has filed a notarized Full Practice Authority attestation with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation ("IDFPR") under 225 ILCS 65/65-43 (requiring at least 250 hours of qualifying continuing education or training and 4,000 hours of clinical experience after initial national certification), the Nurse Practitioner shall practice pursuant to a Written Collaborative Agreement with the Physician, as required by 225 ILCS 65/65-35, unless the Nurse Practitioner practices solely within a hospital, hospital affiliate, or ambulatory surgical treatment center where privileges substitute for the agreement.
The Written Collaborative Agreement shall describe the collaborative relationship and the categories of care and procedures delegated to the Nurse Practitioner. The Physician shall remain available for telecommunication consultation and shall periodically review the Nurse Practitioner's orders and services consistent with accepted standards. The Physician shall file notice of the agreement, including any delegated controlled-substance authority, with IDFPR, and shall file notice of termination within ten (10) days of termination.
- The Written Collaborative Agreement on file also carries 1 scope, 1 education, 1 registration clauses, generated in the document itself.
Statutes and rules cited
- Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, Division of Professional Regulation (Pharmacy)board guidance
State agency administering the Illinois Pharmacy Practice Act (225 ILCS 85) and pharmacist licensure; primary source for any collaborative-pharmacy-practice rulemaking.
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
below full-practice-authority attestation: Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
No codified mile/minute radius or on-site requirement; the written collaborative agreement governs availability for consultation.
Supervision ratio
Not codified — no cap on file
Chart review
Not codified — left to the agreement
Meeting cadence
Not codified — left to the agreement
Prescriptive authority
below full-practice-authority attestation: Separate prescribing terms required · controlled substances permitted
Prescriptive scope, including controlled substances, must be set out in the written collaborative agreement (Ill. Admin. Code tit. 68, § 1300.430).
at/after full-practice-authority attestation: Covered by the practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
Independent prescriptive authority once the attestation is filed (Ill. Admin. Code tit. 68, § 1300.465).
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — NPs are excluded from the physician-only Medical Corporation Act (805 ILCS 15) — even a full-practice-authority NP cannot own that entity. NPs instead use a professional service corporation (805 ILCS 10) or PLLC (805 ILCS 185) held by nursing licensees.
Ownership is unaffected by whether the NP has reached full-practice-authority status — the attestation above governs clinical collaboration, not entity ownership.
Legal sources for these rules (3)
- 225 ILCS 65/65-43 — Full Practice Authority (Nurse Practice Act)
- Ill. Admin. Code tit. 68, § 1300.465 — Full Practice Authoritysecondary
- Ill. Admin. Code tit. 68, § 1300.430 — Written Collaborative Agreement — Prescriptive Authoritysecondary
About Illinois's rules
The 2017 Nurse Practice Act reform (P.A. 100-0513) lets NP/CNM/CNS attest to full practice authority after 4,000 hours under a written collaborative agreement plus 250 hours of CE — CRNAs are not included in that attestation pathway. The Medical Corporation Act (805 ILCS 15) restricts clinical-entity ownership to physicians; APRNs/PAs may still use a professional service corporation or PLLC of their own licensees.
Other clinicians in Illinois: see the state overview.