Practice Agreement · RN
Registered Nurse Practice Agreement in Arkansas
Arkansas law does not require a Registered Nurse to hold a named agreement with a physician. Practices still use one to define the working relationship; here is what it covers and what the state does require.
RNs practice under the Arkansas Nurse Practice Act (§ 17-87-101 et seq.) within RN scope, which does not require physician supervision as a matter of licensure — standing orders/facility policy are an employment matter, not a statutory physician-supervision or CPA requirement like the APRN/DSM-pharmacist tiers above.
What a Registered Nurse practice agreement covers in Arkansas
Governed by the Arkansas State Board of Nursing. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.
The Registered Nurse ("RN") shall practice under the orders, standing orders, or delegation of the Physician. Unlike the Collaborative Practice Agreement required of Advanced Practice Registered Nurses, Arkansas law does not require such an agreement for this Registered Nurse's general scope of practice; the Physician shall instead be available to the Registered Nurse for consultation regarding clinical and patient care issues arising under any order or delegation.
- The agreement on file also carries 2 scope, 2 education, 2 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
Not codified — left to the agreement
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 · no controlled-substance authority
RNs do not have independent prescriptive authority in Arkansas.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — no CPA, independence threshold, or FIPCC pathway applies to base RN licensure.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — Not applicable to RN licensure as such — no RN-specific ownership restriction was found.
Legal sources for these rules (1)
- Ark. Code Ann. § 17-87-101 et seq. — Arkansas Nurse Practice Act
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.