Collaborative Practice Agreement · NP
Wisconsin Collaborative Arrangement for Nurse Practitioners
Required. The Collaborative Arrangement is the written instrument Wisconsin 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.
New as of the APRN Modernization Act (2025 Act 17), eff. Sept. 1, 2026 — replaces Wisconsin's prior permanent collaborative-arrangement model. Employers, medical staff bylaws, credentialing standards, and payors may still require a collaborative agreement even after Board authorization to practice independently — this is a licensure floor, not a ceiling on private contracts.
Independent practice requires: ≥3,840 hours of professional RN practice over ≥24 months (shortfall against 24 months, if any, is added to the APRN-role requirement below); ≥3,840 hours of advanced practice in the NP's Recognized Role while working with a physician or dentist immediately available for consultation, over ≥24 months.
What a Wisconsin Collaborative Arrangement must contain
Governed by the Wisconsin Board of Nursing and the Wisconsin Pharmacy Examining Board. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.
Effective September 1, 2026, under 2025 Wisconsin Act 17, the Nurse Practitioner may practice independently without a collaborative arrangement once the Nurse Practitioner has completed 3,840 hours of professional nursing practice in a clinical setting, with at least twenty-four (24) months elapsed since beginning those hours, followed by an additional 3,840 hours of advanced practice registered nursing in the applicable recognized role, with at least twenty-four (24) further months elapsed, while a physician or dentist was immediately available for consultation and had accepted responsibility for the Nurse Practitioner's actions during that second phase. Until the Nurse Practitioner completes that transition period and obtains independent-practice authorization from the Wisconsin Board of Nursing, the Nurse Practitioner shall practice under a written collaborative arrangement with the Physician, reflecting the Physician's immediate availability for consultation and acceptance of responsibility for the Nurse Practitioner's actions, consistent with Wis. Stat. ch. 441.
Once the Nurse Practitioner qualifies to practice independently under this transition standard, the Nurse Practitioner shall maintain professional liability insurance at levels comparable to those required of physicians and shall contribute to the Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund, as Wisconsin law requires of independently practicing Advanced Practice Registered Nurses.
- The Collaborative Arrangement on file also carries 1 scope, 1 education, 1 registration clauses, generated in the document itself.
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 the 3,840-hour/24-month transition threshold: Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
Under both the prior (Wis. Stat. § 441.16, WAC ch. N 8) and current frameworks, Wisconsin imposes no geographic proximity requirement — the collaborating physician/dentist need only be 'immediately available for consultation and referral,' in person or by telecommunication.
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
Covered by the practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
Pain-management NPs using invasive techniques must continue collaborating with a pain-medicine physician even after reaching independent-practice status (secondary-sourced characterization of Act 17 — verify against final DSPS rule text).
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Service Corporation under Wis. Stat. ch. 180, subch. XIX — NPs, as health care professionals, may co-own a multi-discipline service corporation alongside physicians or other licensees; non-licensees may not hold equity.
An NP shareholder practicing independently (not under physician direction, post-transition) must independently carry malpractice coverage meeting § 655.23(4) minimums (§ 180.1911).
Legal sources for these rules (3)
About Wisconsin's rules
The APRN Modernization Act (2025 Act 17) took effect September 1, 2026 — days before this data's last-verified date — replacing permanent NP/CRNA/CNS collaborative arrangements with a 3,840-hour/24-month transition to independent practice; CNMs are auto-licensed with NO such threshold. Given how recent this is, verify current DSPS/Board of Nursing implementation guidance before relying on transition-period details below.
Other clinicians in Wisconsin: see the state overview.