Practice Agreement · RN

Registered Nurse Practice Agreement in Vermont

Vermont 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.

Practice authorityIndependent practice
Written agreementNo agreement required
What Vermont calls itNo instrument required
Governing boardVermont Board of Nursing
Research date2026-09-03 · clauses 2026-09-03

RNs (general licensure, not an APRN) are not subject to physician-supervision or collaborative-agreement requirements in Vermont; the Nurse Practice Act (26 V.S.A. ch. 28) defines RN practice without a physician-oversight condition.

What a Registered Nurse practice agreement covers in Vermont

Governed by the Vermont Board of Nursing. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.

  1. The Registered Nurse ("RN") shall practice under the orders, standing orders, or delegation of the Physician. Vermont law does not require a 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.

  2. The agreement on file also carries 2 scope, 1 education, 2 registration clauses, generated in the document itself.

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 Vermont; they administer medications only as ordered by 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 a healing-arts PC — non-clinical businesses an RN might own (staffing agency, home health agency) fall under general corporation/LLC law and carry no ownership restriction. H.583's new majority-licensee requirements target 'medical practices' employing physicians, not general RN-run businesses.

Legal sources for these rules (1)

About Vermont's rules

H.583 (signed June 15, 2026, eff. July 1, 2026) newly restricts private-equity/hedge-fund control and requires majority physician ownership/governance of medical practices — a major shift from Vermont's historically permissive, no-common-law-CPOM stance. All 4 APRN roles (NP, CRNA, CNM, CNS/PMHNP) share one 2,400-hour/2-year transition-to-practice threshold (26 V.S.A. § 1614) — treat as newly in effect and monitor implementing guidance.

Other clinicians in Vermont: see the state overview.