Practice Agreement · RN
Registered Nurse Practice Agreement in New York
New York 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.
FULL for general nursing scope (§6902) — no physician-supervision requirement for nursing practice itself. RNs are the only non-prescriber category NYSED's Board for Medicine permits to execute medicine-tier energy-device/laser orders (dermis or deeper) under 'general supervision' (available, not on-site) — the most concretely codified delegation framework found in this dataset.
What a Registered Nurse practice agreement covers in New York
Governed by the New York State Education Department, State Board for 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 practice agreement required of Nurse Practitioners below the independent-practice threshold, New York law does not require a written collaborative 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
- N.Y. Educ. Law § 6902statute
Defines the practice of nursing and the Nurse Practitioner written practice agreement requirement, including the 3,600-hour independent-practice threshold (currently scheduled to sunset July 1, 2030).
- NYSED Office of the Professions -- Practice Requirements for Nurse Practitionersboard guidance
State Education Department guidance summarizing current Nurse Practitioner practice agreement and chart-review requirements.
- N.Y. Educ. Law § 6542statute
Requires continuous physician supervision of a Physician Assistant's performance of medical services.
- N.Y. Educ. Law § 6801-astatute
Collaborative Drug Therapy Management Demonstration Program, limited to qualifying teaching/general hospitals and certain nursing homes.
- 8 NYCRR § 63.10; NYSED Collaborative Drug Therapy Management guidanceboard guidance
State Education Department's official page describing the Collaborative Drug Therapy Management program for pharmacists.
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
physician-delegated energy-device/laser treatment affecting the dermis or deeper (Class IIIb/IV under NYSED's device-classification table): Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
NYSED Board for Medicine determinations (2002; updated 2025, current/superseding — read directly): 'general supervision: the supervising physician or nurse practitioner need not be physically present but must be available to provide guidance or intervene within a reasonable period, depending on the treatment rendered' — stated nearly verbatim in both. Only RNs (not unlicensed technicians/aestheticians) may execute orders for this device tier.
superficial energy-device/laser treatment (Class I/II/IIIa — e.g., IPL, non-ablative hair-removal lasers, LLLT): No proximity requirement
NOT the practice of medicine at all per the same NYSED determination — may be performed by trained non-licensed personnel, including aestheticians, with no physician involvement required.
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
General RNs (non-APRN) have no independent prescriptive authority — they execute physician/NP/PA-ordered regimens (§6902).
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional for general nursing practice. For medicine-tier delegated procedures (energy devices/lasers affecting the dermis or deeper, and by extension the general medication-administration framework covering injectables), a valid physician/NP/PA order is required — 'general supervision' (available within a reasonable time, not necessarily on-site) applies per two NYSED Board for Medicine determinations (2002, updated 2025). CONFIRMED after a dedicated follow-up search: no equivalent NYSED Board for Medicine determination exists for injectables (Botox/dermal fillers) specifically — this is a confirmed absence, not an unexplored gap. Injectable delegation to RNs in NY practice is governed only by the general medication-administration framework (§6902: RN executes a valid physician/NP order), without a dedicated determination spelling out the supervision-proximity standard for it the way the laser/energy-device rules do.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — N.Y. LLC Law §1203 (confirmed directly): a PLLC rendering medical services must have every member licensed under Educ. Law Article 131 (Medicine) — RNs (Article 139) cannot own the medical-scope entity. An RN CAN own a non-medical wellness/spa business as an ordinary LLC/corp; the medicine-tier portion (deep lasers/energy devices, injectables) must sit in a separate physician-owned PC/PLLC.
Legal sources for these rules (5)
- N.Y. Educ. Law Article 139, § 6902 — Practice of nursing
- NYSED Board for Medicine — 'Use of Laser as the Practice of Medicine' (2002)
- NYSED Board for Medicine — 'Use of Energy Devices Including Lasers as the Practice of Medicine' (2025, current/superseding)
- N.Y. Limited Liability Company Law § 1203 — Medical-services PLLC membership
- Injectable (Botox/filler) RN-delegation — confirmed, after a dedicated follow-up search, that no NYSED Board for Medicine determination analogous to the laser/energy-device ones exists; governed only by the general §6902 medication-administration framework
About New York's rules
New York combines an unusually strict general corporate-practice-of-medicine regime (physician/same-profession-only PC/PLLC ownership) with two notable exceptions: pharmacy ownership is NOT restricted to pharmacists (Educ. Law §6808), and midwifery (CNM) is its own fully independent practice act (Art. 140), unlike the physician-collaboration model governing NP/PMHNP. CRNA has no dedicated practice statute at all — governed only by DOH facility regulation. NP/PMHNP independence (≥3,600 hours) is a repeatedly-extended sunset provision (currently through July 1, 2030), not permanent law.
Other clinicians in New York: see the state overview.