Practice Agreement · RN
Registered Nurse Practice Agreement in Montana
Montana 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 (general licensure, not an APRN) are not subject to physician-supervision or collaborative-agreement requirements in Montana; RN practice is governed by the Nurse Practice Act and Board of Nursing conduct rules (ARM 24.159.2301) without a physician-oversight gate.
What a Registered Nurse practice agreement covers in Montana
Governed by the Montana 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 Title 37, chapter 8, of the Montana Code Annotated. Montana law does not require a collaboration or supervision 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
- 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
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 Montana; they administer medications only under a valid order from an authorized prescriber.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to physician supervision or a collaborative agreement, unlike the APRN/PA categories above.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — General RN licensure does not require formation of a healing-arts Professional Corporation (Title 35, ch. 4, MCA) — an RN may own non-clinical businesses (staffing, home health, the MSO/business side of a med-spa) without the ownership restriction that applies to entities delivering physician/APRN-level clinical services.
For medical-aesthetics businesses performing procedures reserved to physicians/APRNs (Botox, most lasers — see the Board of Barbers and Cosmetologists' 2024 Med-Spa FAQ), RN ownership of the business entity does not itself confer authority to perform those procedures.
Legal sources for these rules (3)
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.