Protocol · NP · Arkansas
Practice Protocol for Nurse Practitioners in Arkansas
Required. Arkansas law names the instrument a Collaborative Practice Agreement (CPA), and the clinical protocol is the content that instrument carries. Below: the board that governs it, what it must contain, and the terms it has to carry.
Pathway created by Act 412 of 2021 (Ark. Code Ann. § 17-87-314). FIPCC certificate renews every 3 years ($50 fee); once granted, no CPA is required (§ 17-87-316(b)).
Independent practice requires: ≥6,240 hours of practice under a collaborative practice agreement (or equivalent out-of-state prescriptive-authority practice); Full Independent Practice Credentialing Committee (FIPCC) approval — active unencumbered CNP license and prescriptive-authority certificate, 2 recommendation letters, $150 application fee.
What an Arkansas Collaborative Practice Agreement (CPA) must contain
Governed by the Arkansas State Board of Nursing and the Arkansas State Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the Collaborative Practice Agreement (CPA) must satisfy.
Unless the Nurse Practitioner has completed six thousand two hundred forty (6,240) hours of practice under a Collaborative Practice Agreement and obtained Full Independent Practice status from the Arkansas State Board of Nursing's Full Independent Practice Credentialing Committee, the Nurse Practitioner shall practice pursuant to a written Collaborative Practice Agreement ("CPA") naming the Physician, approved by and on file with the Board before the Nurse Practitioner prescribes, as required by Ark. Code Ann. § 17-87-102 et seq. The Physician shall be licensed and in active clinical practice in Arkansas, or in a county of a bordering state contiguous to Arkansas, and easily reachable by phone or other telecommunication.
The CPA shall address the Physician's availability for consultation and referral, the method for managing the collaborative practice including prescriptive-authority protocols, coverage during the Physician's absence, and a quality assurance plan. Patients shall receive written notice identifying the Physician as collaborating physician and how to reach them.
- The Collaborative Practice Agreement (CPA) also carries 1 scope, 1 education and 1 registration clauses, authored in the document itself.
Terms it has to carry
Ratio, proximity, chart review, meeting and prescribing terms the Collaborative Practice Agreement (CPA) has to carry, from Arkansas's supervision rules.
Proximity
CNP practicing under a collaborative practice agreement (pre-FIPCC): Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
No requirement that the collaborating physician visit the site or be within a defined radius was found in ASBN rule text retrieved — appears telecommunication-sufficient (secondary-sourced summary consistent across multiple NP-advocacy sites; no specific mileage figure located).
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
CNP practicing under a collaborative practice agreement (pre-FIPCC): Covered by the practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
Prescribes under the collaborative-practice protocols. Schedule II limits beyond the agreement itself come from § 17-87-310; check its schedule distinctions before relying on a specific limit.
CNP with Full Independent Practice Authority (post-FIPCC): Covered by the practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
Prescribes without a CPA per § 17-87-316(b).
Written agreement
Required
Required only before FIPCC certification. Once Full Independent Practice Authority is granted, no collaborative practice agreement is required at all.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — General Arkansas corporate-practice framework (§§ 4-29-208, 4-29-307)
Sources for the supervision rules (3)
- Ark. Code Ann. § 17-87-314 — Full Independent Practice Credentialing Committeesecondary
- Ark. Code Ann. § 17-87-316(b) — Practice Without Collaborative Practice Agreement Post-Certification
- Arkansas State Board of Nursing — Collaborative Practice Agreement template
About Arkansas's rules
Act 412 of 2021 created a 6,240-hour Full Independent Practice Credentialing Committee (FIPCC) pathway for CNPs and CNSs only — CRNAs and CNMs are excluded from FIPCC and follow their own frameworks. CRNA independent-practice status is a genuine, unresolved ambiguity (see that entry) — a widely repeated 'Medicare opt-out' claim doesn't equal a change to AR's own supervision statute.
Other clinicians in Arkansas: see the state overview.