Collaborative Practice Agreement · PA
Illinois Written Collaborative Agreement for Physician Assistants
Required. The Written Collaborative Agreement is the written instrument Illinois 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.
No independent-practice pathway exists for PAs in Illinois — a supervision agreement (or a collaborative arrangement for a higher ratio, see supervisionRatio) with one or more physicians is required for as long as the PA practices (225 ILCS 95, Physician Assistant Practice Act of 1987).
What a Illinois Written Collaborative Agreement must contain
Governed by the Illinois Medical Board and the Illinois Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.
The Physician Assistant ("PA") shall practice pursuant to a Written Collaborative Agreement with the Physician, as required by the Physician Assistant Practice Act, 225 ILCS 95. The agreement shall describe the categories of care delegated to the Physician Assistant. The Physician's physical presence is not required, provided the Physician remains available by telecommunication.
A collaborating physician may have Written Collaborative Agreements with no more than seven (7) full-time-equivalent Physician Assistants at one time, except that this limit does not apply to practice in a hospital, hospital affiliate, federally qualified health center, or ambulatory surgical treatment center. Notice of the agreement, and of its termination, shall be filed with IDFPR.
- 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
Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
No fixed mile/minute radius or on-site requirement is codified; the supervision/collaborative agreement governs availability for consultation.
Supervision ratio
standard supervision agreement: Up to 5 at a time
A supervising physician may supervise up to 5 full-time-equivalent (40 hrs/week) PAs, reduced by the number of separate collaborative agreements the physician also maintains (225 ILCS 95/7).
collaborative arrangement (rather than a supervision agreement): Up to 7 at a time
Up to 7 full-time-equivalent PAs under a collaborative arrangement (225 ILCS 95/7). Hospitals, hospital affiliates, FQHCs, and ambulatory surgical treatment centers are exempt from both ratio caps.
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
Prescriptive scope, including controlled substances, must be set out in the written supervision agreement; a specific Illinois schedule limit for PAs was not confirmed in this research pass.
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — A PA-owned clinical entity performing medical acts falls outside the physician-only Medical Corporation Act (805 ILCS 15); PAs instead use a professional service corporation (805 ILCS 10) or PLLC (805 ILCS 185) held by PA licensees, or co-own such an entity with physicians where permitted.
This ownership question is legally distinct from the clinical supervision agreement above.
Legal sources for these rules (2)
- 225 ILCS 95 — Physician Assistant Practice Act of 1987secondary
- 805 ILCS 15 — Medical Corporation Act
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.