Practice Agreement · PA
Physician Assistant Practice Agreement in Delaware
Delaware law does not require a Physician Assistant 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.
No independent-practice pathway exists for PAs in Delaware — a written collaborative agreement with a supervising physician is required for as long as the PA practices (24 Del.C. § 1770 et seq.).
What a Physician Assistant practice agreement covers in Delaware
Governed by the Delaware Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline and the Delaware Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.
The Physician Assistant ("PA") shall practice in a collaborative relationship with the Physician, consistent with 24 Del. C. § 1770 et seq. A physician may not collaborate with more than four (4) Physician Assistants at one time absent a Board exemption, unless Board rule increases or decreases that number, except that this limit does not apply where the Physician and the Physician Assistant practice in the same physical office or facility.
Source: 24 Del. C. § 1771
If the Physician Assistant prescribes controlled substances, the Physician Assistant shall identify the Physician as the Physician Assistant's supervising physician for controlled substance registration purposes at each individual business or practice location where the Physician Assistant prescribes.
- The agreement on file also carries 1 scope, 1 education, 1 registration clauses, generated in the document itself.
Statutes and rules cited
- 24 Del. C. § 2502statute
Defines 'collaborative pharmacy practice' and 'collaborative pharmacy practice agreement.'
- 24 Del. C. § 1771statute
Limits a collaborating physician to concurrently collaborating with no more than four Physician Assistants absent a Board exemption.
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)
Where the PA treats patients at a location the supervising physician doesn't routinely occupy, the physician must ensure the means/methods of supervision (which may include telecommunication and chart review) are adequate, detailed in the written collaborative agreement (24 Del.C. § 1771). No fixed mile/minute radius is codified.
Supervision ratio
Up to 4 at a time
A physician may not collaborate with more than 4 PAs at any one time, unless a Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline regulation increases or decreases that number (24 Del.C. § 1771).
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 must be addressed in the written collaborative agreement; Delaware statute/rule doesn't appear to set a schedule-specific supply-limit the way some states do — not fully confirmed in this research pass, treat as uncertain rather than assuming no limit exists.
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Professional (service) corporation under 8 Del.C. Ch. 6 — every shareholder must be individually licensed to render the corporation's professional service. Ch. 6's 'qualified related professional services' provision only names medicine + podiatry as a permitted cross-license combination; whether a PA may co-own a corporation with the supervising physician under that provision is not confirmed in this research pass — treat as an open item.
Distinct from the clinical collaborative-agreement relationship above — the supervising physician need not own the entity the PA practices through.
Legal sources for these rules (3)
About Delaware's rules
Delaware grants full independent practice to APRNs (NP/CRNA/CNM/CNS) after a uniform 2-year/4,000-hour transition period (24 Del.C. § 1906(20); 24 DE Admin. Code 1900 § 8.0) — this research pass treats that rule as applying identically across all four APRN roles; confirm role-specific nuance with the Board of Nursing before relying on it. PAs have no independent-practice pathway.
Other clinicians in Delaware: see the state overview.