Practice Agreement · RN
Registered Nurse Practice Agreement in Colorado
Colorado 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.
General RN licensure (Title 12, Art. 255, Part 1) is not subject to physician supervision in Colorado, distinct from the Advanced Practice Registry roles above. Colorado Medical Board Rule 800 (3 CCR 713-30) separately classifies non-surgical medical-aesthetic procedures (laser/IPL, injectables) as requiring physician delegation regardless of RN licensure — see `esthetician` entry for the same delegation framework applied to a non-nursing license.
What a Registered Nurse practice agreement covers in Colorado
Governed by the Colorado 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, consistent with Colo. Rev. Stat. Title 12, Article 255. Colorado law does not require a supervision or collaboration 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, 1 education, 2 registration clauses, generated in the document itself.
Statutes and rules cited
- Colo. Rev. Stat. §§ 12-280-601 to 12-280-604 and 3 CCR 719-1, Rule 17 (Collaborative Pharmacy Practice)board guidance
Colorado State Board of Pharmacy's own page describing the collaborative pharmacy practice agreement framework and statewide drug therapy protocols authorized under Title 12, Article 280, Part 6 of the Colorado Revised Statutes and Pharmacy Rule 17.
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 prescriptive authority in Colorado under any circumstance; prescribing requires APRN or PA licensure plus the applicable authority framework above, or physician/dentist/podiatrist licensure.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to physician supervision or a collaborative-practice agreement in Colorado. This doesn't extend to delegated medical-aesthetic procedures — see notes.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — An RN may own a nursing-scope entity (e.g., a home-health or staffing business) — no CPOM-style physician-ownership restriction was found for RN-scope practice, same secondary-sourced analysis as the APRN entries above.
For medical-aesthetics (med-spa) businesses performing delegated non-surgical medical-cosmetic procedures, Rule 800 (3 CCR 713-30) requires physician delegation and 'personal and responsible' oversight of those specific services regardless of who owns the facility — the RN may own the business but the physician retains delegation authority over the medical-aesthetic scope itself. A 2026 bill (HB26-1249) would have expanded ownership eligibility for medical-aesthetics corporations specifically to RNs (and APRNs/PAs/estheticians) — postponed indefinitely 3/25/2026; see `pa` entry.
Legal sources for these rules (3)
About Colorado's rules
Colorado is a full-practice-authority state for all five APRN roles (NP/PMHNP/CRNA/CNM/CNS) — no physician agreement is ever required to practice. APRNs instead face a 750-hour prescribing mentorship (not necessarily physician-led) before 'full' (vs. 'provisional') prescriptive authority — a credentialing gate, not a supervision relationship. PAs moved from physician 'supervision' to an hours-gated 'collaborative agreement' under SB23-083 (2023) — not 'HB23-1214,' which could not be located and appears to be a misattribution. Colorado licenses estheticians; it has not deregulated the profession.
Other clinicians in Colorado: see the state overview.