Written Protocol · PA
Mississippi Written Practice Protocol for Physician Assistants
Required. The Written Practice Protocol is the written instrument Mississippi 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 Mississippi. New-grad PAs (or PAs new to MS licensure) require ON-SITE physician presence for 120 days/960 hours, reducible if the PA's clinical clerkship was with the same supervising physician (Miss. Admin. Code Part 2615, Ch. 1, Rule 1.7).
What a Mississippi Written Practice Protocol must contain
Governed by the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure and the Mississippi Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the agreement must satisfy.
The Physician Assistant ("PA") shall practice pursuant to a written practice protocol with the Physician, who shall be approved by the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure to supervise Physician Assistants and shall hold an unrestricted Mississippi medical license. The protocol shall limit the Physician Assistant to duties consistent with the Physician Assistant's training and skills. A newly licensed Physician Assistant shall practice under the Physician's on-site supervision for the Physician Assistant's first one hundred twenty (120) days or nine hundred sixty (960) hours of practice, whichever is later.
The Physician shall review a random sample of at least ten percent (10%) of the Physician Assistant's patient charts each month. Mississippi law does not impose a fixed numerical limit on the number of Physician Assistants a supervising physician may supervise at one time.
- The Written Practice Protocol on file also carries 1 scope, 1 education, 1 registration clauses, generated in the document itself.
Statutes and rules cited
- Miss. Code Ann. § 73-15-20statute
Advanced practice registered nurse collaborative/consultative relationship and Board-approved protocol requirement, as compiled in the Board of Nursing's official Nurse Practice Act.
- Miss. Admin. Code Title 30, Part 2630, Ch. 1, Rule 1.2-1.3board rule
Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure rules governing physician collaboration with nurse practitioners: chart review, quarterly QA meetings, and the 75-mile free-standing-clinic rule.
- Miss. Admin. Code Title 30, Part 2615, Ch. 1board rule
Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure rules governing physician assistant practice protocols, supervision approval, on-site supervision of new graduates, and chart review.
- Miss. Admin. Code Title 30, Part 3001, Article XXXVIboard rule
Mississippi Board of Pharmacy rule authorizing pharmacists to initiate, modify, or discontinue non-scheduled drug therapy under a written protocol with a practitioner.
- Mississippi Board of Nursing, RN/LPN Renewal FAQboard guidance
Board of Nursing guidance confirming that continuing education is not required to renew an active RN license, except for reinstatement after a lapse of more than 5 years.
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
Within 30 miles
The PA's practice is confined to the supervising physician's primary office/clinic, or any hospital/clinic/facility within 30 miles of that primary office where the supervising physician holds staff privileges (Rule 1.7). Exceptions may be set out in the protocol.
Supervision ratio
Not codified — no cap on file
Chart review
10% of charts · Monthly · countersignature required
Supervising physician must review, at least monthly, a randomly selected 10% of charts of patients treated by the PA (histories, exam/test results, diagnoses, orders, meds, treatment), evidenced by signature/initials at the base of the clinic note (Rule 1.7).
Meeting cadence
Not codified — left to the agreement
Prescriptive authority
Covered by the practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
Covered by the same practice protocol required to practice at all — no separate prescribing-specific agreement.
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Professional corporation under Miss. Code Ann. § 79-10-31 — shareholders of a PC rendering medical services must be licensed physicians; PAs may be employees but not owners. Mississippi does not permit multi-discipline PC/PLLC ownership with PAs as co-owners.
Derived from case law (Sears Roebuck v. State Bd. of Optometry, 1952) plus § 79-10-31 and MSBML Policy 3.02 — Mississippi has no standalone CPOM statute.
Legal sources for these rules (3)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 73-26-5 — Physician Assistants
- Mississippi Admin. Code Title 30, Part 2615 — Physician Assistants (Rules 1.5-1.7)
- Miss. Code Ann. § 41-29-125 — Controlled substance registration
About Mississippi's rules
Mississippi has no independent-practice pathway for NPs/APRNs — a collaborative relationship plus Board-approved written protocol is required for the life of the license. Multiple 2025-2026 NP full-practice-authority bills (H.B. 813, H.B. 98, S.B. 2178) remain unconfirmed as enacted — re-verify § 73-15-20 each session.
Other clinicians in Mississippi: see the state overview.