Written Protocol · RN
New York Non-Patient Specific Order and Protocol for Registered Nurses
Recognized but not required in every case. The Non-Patient Specific Order and Protocol is the written instrument New York law names for a Registered Nurse working with a physician. Below: the board that governs it, what it contains when one is used, and the supervision rules that apply either way.
Full for general nursing scope (§ 6902), with 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 or laser orders (dermis or deeper) under 'general supervision' (available, not on site), one of the most concretely codified delegation frameworks among the states.
What a voluntary Registered Nurse agreement covers in New York
New York requires no written agreement for registered nurses. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The New York State Education Department, State Board for Nursing governs registered nurses here.
Registered Nurse may carry out covered services under a non-patient specific order and protocol issued by Physician, who is a physician, physician assistant or nurse practitioner and need not examine or have a treatment relationship with the recipient.
- The Non-Patient Specific Order and Protocol also carries 1 scope and 1 education clauses, authored in the document itself.
Statutes and rules these clauses cite
- NYSED Office of the Professions, Non-Patient Specific Orders and Protocols (Registered Professional Nursing)board guidance
Explains who may issue non-patient specific orders and protocols to RNs, the five categories of covered services, and that an RN may assign LPNs to assist within LPN scope with on-site RN direction.
What New York does require
The supervision and prescribing rules that apply to registered nurses regardless of any agreement.
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
Meeting cadence
Not codified
Prescriptive authority
No agreement needed to prescribe · 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.
Sources for the supervision 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.