Supervision Agreement · PA
Delaware Supervisory Practice Agreement for Physician Assistants
Required. The Supervisory Practice Agreement is the written instrument Delaware law names for a Physician Assistant working with a physician. Below: the board that governs it, what it must contain, and the terms it has to carry.
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 Delaware Supervisory Practice Agreement must contain
Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the Supervisory Practice 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 Supervisory Practice Agreement also carries 1 scope, 1 education and 1 registration clauses, authored in the document itself.
Statutes and rules these clauses cite
- 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 Supervisory Practice Agreement has to carry, from Delaware'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 and rule do not appear to set a schedule-specific supply limit the way some states do; treat that as unsettled rather than as confirmation that 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 licensed for the corporation's professional service
Distinct from the clinical collaborative-agreement relationship above — the supervising physician need not own the entity the PA practices through.
Sources for the supervision 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 entry applies that rule identically across the four APRN roles; confirm role-specific detail with the Board of Nursing. PAs have no independent-practice pathway.
Other clinicians in Delaware: see the state overview.