Practice Agreement · NP
Nurse Practitioner Practice Agreement in Montana
Montana law does not require a Nurse Practitioner 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.
Montana's Nurse Practice Act does not condition NP practice on a supervising-physician or collaborative-practice agreement — NPs are widely classified (AANP and others) as full-practice-authority. Prescriptive authority is granted directly by the Board of Nursing (§ 37-8-202, MCA) rather than delegated by a collaborating physician. See state-level notes on HB 810 (2023).
What a Nurse Practitioner practice agreement covers in Montana
Governed by the Montana Board of Nursing and the Montana Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.
Montana does not require the Nurse Practitioner to enter into a collaboration or supervision agreement with a physician at any point in the Nurse Practitioner's career. The Nurse Practitioner evaluates, diagnoses, orders and interprets tests, and starts and manages treatment, including prescribing, under the Nurse Practitioner's own license, consistent with Title 37, chapter 8, of the Montana Code Annotated.
Source: Mont. Code Ann. § 37-8-409
This Agreement's terms regarding the Nurse Practitioner accordingly serve to define the working relationship, referral pathways, and any Medical Director oversight between the Parties, and are not themselves required by Montana law as a condition of the Nurse Practitioner's authority to practice.
- The agreement on file also carries 1 scope, 1 education, 1 registration clauses, generated in the document itself.
Statutes and rules cited
- Mont. Code Ann. § 37-8-409statute
Conditions under which an advanced practice registered nurse may practice; current text contains no physician collaboration or supervision agreement requirement.
- Mont. Code Ann. § 37-20-203statute
Physician assistant collaborative agreement requirement below 8,000 hours of postgraduate clinical experience, and exemption once that threshold is met.
- Mont. Code Ann. § 37-7-101statute
Definitions of collaborative pharmacy practice and collaborative pharmacy practice agreement under the Montana Pharmacy Practice Act.
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
No proximity requirement
No physician proximity/availability requirement is codified for NP practice in Montana.
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
Requires individual DEA registration.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional under current statute as researched — no collaborative or supervisory agreement is required for NP practice in Montana.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Professional Corporation (Title 35, ch. 4, MCA) or comparable professional entity — shares/membership limited to persons licensed in the service rendered; an NP may independently own a nursing-services entity under this framework.
Legal sources for these rules (5)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 37-8-202 — Board of Nursing Powers and Duties (prescriptive authority)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 37-8-409 — Advanced Practice Registered Nursing
- Admin. R. Mont. 24.159.1463 — Application for Prescriptive Authoritysecondary
- Admin. R. Mont. 24.159.1464 — Prescribing Practices
- Montana House Bill 810 (2023, not confirmed enacted) — would have required 2-year APRN collaboration
About Montana's rules
House Bill 810 (2023) would have imposed a 2-year physician/NP-collaboration requirement on APRNs; it was referred to committee and this research could not confirm it became law — current APRN statute text found shows no such requirement, so NP/CRNA/CNM/CNS are coded as independent, but verify this hasn't changed before relying on it. Montana repealed its corporate-practice-of-medicine statute in 1995; CPOM entries below reflect residual board rule, not a clear statutory line.
Other clinicians in Montana: see the state overview.