Delegation Agreement · PA
Arkansas Delegation Agreement for Physician Assistants
Required. The Delegation Agreement is the written instrument Arkansas 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 Arkansas. Act 634 of 2021 modernized delegation mechanics (shifting drug-list specifics into the practice agreement) but did not create independence.
What a Arkansas Delegation Agreement must contain
Governed by the Arkansas State Medical Board and the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.
The Physician Assistant ("PA") shall practice pursuant to a written Delegation Agreement with the Physician, accepted by the Arkansas State Medical Board before the Physician Assistant is licensed, kept at the practice location, and signed by both Parties, as required by Ark. Code Ann. § 17-105-101 et seq. The Delegation Agreement shall address the Physician Assistant's practice area and location, the Physician's geographic range, the type and frequency of supervision, the performance-evaluation process, the Physician's qualifications, the Physician Assistant's prescribing authorization, and a named backup supervising physician. Supervision must be continuous but does not require the Physician's constant physical presence, provided the Physician remains reachable by phone or other telecommunication.
Arkansas State Medical Board policy limits a physician to directly supervising no more than three (3) Physician Assistants at one time; this ratio is subject to pending Board rulemaking and should be reconfirmed against the Board's current rule before renewal.
- The Delegation Agreement on file also carries 1 scope, 1 education, 1 registration clauses, generated in the document itself.
Statutes and rules cited
- Ark. Code Ann. § 17-92-101 et seq. and Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy Regulationsboard rule
Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy's own published Law Book, compiling the Pharmacy Practice Act and Board regulations governing collaborative practice agreements between pharmacists and practitioners with prescriptive authority.
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)
Arkansas Medical Board Rule 24 requires the supervising physician (or backup) be 'available for immediate telephone contact'; the practice agreement must separately state a 'geographic range' for the relationship, but no fixed mile/minute radius was found codified in the rule text retrieved.
Supervision ratio
Up to 3 at a time
Sourced from the Arkansas Medical Board's PA licensure-application packet (a physician may directly supervise up to 3 PAs) rather than a directly-confirmed Rule 24 section number — treat as high-confidence Board policy, not verified verbatim against the rule text.
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
Schedule II opioids limited to a 5-day supply or less; Schedule II stimulants only if originally initiated by the physician and the physician evaluated the patient within the prior 6 months; Schedules III-V as authorized in the agreement (Arkansas Medical Board Rule 24). PAs must register with DEA's Mid-Level Practitioner registry.
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Ark. Code Ann. §§ 4-29-208, 4-29-307 require professional-corporation officers/directors/shareholders to be Arkansas-licensed physicians for an entity practicing medicine — a PA cannot solely own the PC/PLLC (secondary-sourced characterization; recommend direct statutory confirmation of PA-specific carve-outs, if any, before treating as settled).
Legal sources for these rules (3)
- Ark. Code Ann. § 17-105-107 — Scope of Authority; Delegatory Authoritysecondary
- Arkansas State Medical Board Rule 24 — Physician Assistantssecondary
- Act 634 of 2021 — PA Delegation Modernization (eff. 7/28/2021)
About Arkansas's rules
Act 412 of 2021 created a 6,240-hour Full Independent Practice Credentialing Committee (FIPCC) pathway for CNPs and CNSs only — CRNAs and CNMs are excluded from FIPCC and follow their own frameworks. CRNA independent-practice status is a genuine, unresolved ambiguity (see that entry) — a widely repeated 'Medicare opt-out' claim doesn't equal a change to AR's own supervision statute.
Other clinicians in Arkansas: see the state overview.