What's In A Collaborative Agreement?

Written by Executive Vice President, Public Policy and Association Affairs, Andy Sandusky

January 24, 2020

Many POMA members work in collaboration with nurse practitioners in all areas of the state. A collaborative agreement is designed to have physician input when a nurse practitioner is engaging in acts of medical diagnoses or prescribing therapeutic response to patients. POMA members who are employees of a larger healthcare organization likely have a standard form which underscores what is required in a collaborative agreement. However, the state law and regulations requirements are quite minimal.

A collaborative agreement must include area of practice, categories of drugs, how often the physician will see the patient, be reviewed at least biennially and specify professional liability insurance coverage. Flexibility is purposely built-in to the collaborative agreement model so it can be tailored to the relationship between physician and nurse practitioner. This thin layer of collaboration is all that is required when a nurse practitioner is making acts of medical diagnoses and prescribing.

POMA seeks to preserve this layer of patient protection by opposing Senate Bill 25 which seeks to eliminate any required collaboration when a nurse practitioner is operating in an expanded role beyond nursing and into the practice of medicine.