Protocol · NP · Colorado
Practice Protocol for Nurse Practitioners in Colorado
Recognized but not required in every case. Colorado law names the instrument an Articulated Plan, and the clinical protocol is the content that instrument carries. Below: the board that governs it, what it contains when one is used, and the supervision rules that apply either way.
No physician agreement is required for NP clinical practice at any experience level (C.R.S. §§ 12-255-104, -111) — independent practice attaches immediately upon admission to the Advanced Practice Registry. The only experience gate is prescriptive: 'full' (vs. 'provisional') prescriptive authority requires a 750-hour prescribing mentorship, which may be led by an experienced APRN rather than a physician (§ 12-255-112(4)(b)).
What a voluntary Nurse Practitioner protocol covers in Colorado
Colorado requires no written protocol for nurse practitioners. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The Colorado Board of Nursing and the Colorado State Board of Pharmacy governs nurse practitioners here.
Colorado does not require the Nurse Practitioner to enter into a supervision or collaboration agreement for diagnosis or treatment, consistent with Colo. Rev. Stat. Title 12, Article 255. A physician relationship applies only to the transition to full prescriptive authority: after an 1,800-hour preceptorship the Nurse Practitioner may obtain Provisional Prescriptive Authority, and within three (3) years of that authority the Nurse Practitioner shall complete a 750-hour structured prescribing mentorship with a physician or a fully-authorized advanced practice registered nurse and develop a written Articulated Plan describing the Nurse Practitioner's strategy for safe prescribing and collaboration.
Once the Nurse Practitioner obtains Full Prescriptive Authority, no Articulated Plan, physician agreement, or other ongoing oversight structure is required by Colorado law as a condition of the Nurse Practitioner's authority to prescribe.
- The Articulated Plan also carries 1 scope, 1 education and 1 registration clauses, authored in the document itself.
What Colorado does require
The supervision and prescribing rules that apply to nurse practitioners regardless of any protocol.
Proximity
No proximity requirement
No proximity/reachability standard applies — NP practice requires no supervising or collaborating physician at all. § 12-255-111(5) requires only 'a safe mechanism for consultation or collaboration with a physician or, when appropriate, referral to a physician' — a professional-judgment standard the NP applies to their own practice, not an externally imposed distance/availability rule.
Supervision ratio
Not codified — no cap on file
Chart review
Not codified
Meeting cadence
Not codified
Prescriptive authority
No agreement needed to prescribe · controlled substances permitted
The mentor need not be a physician — this is a one-time credentialing/experience requirement, not an ongoing supervision relationship, and it ends once the 750 hours are logged (the APRN otherwise continues practicing under provisional authority up to the 3-year mark).
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — no supervising or collaborating physician relationship of any kind is required for NP clinical practice. The prescribing mentorship (see `supervision.prescriptiveAuthority` below) is a one-time credentialing step toward 'full' prescriptive authority, not a standing agreement, and its mentor need not be a physician.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — No Colorado statute requires physician ownership of an entity delivering APRN-scope care — C.R.S. § 12-240-138's physician/PA-shareholder mandate is scoped to entities practicing 'medicine' under the Medical Practice Act; APRN practice is licensed and regulated separately under the Nurse Practice Act (Title 12, Art. 255) and isn't 'the practice of medicine.' Multiple secondary CPOM-guide sources read this as APRNs having materially more ownership flexibility than physicians/PAs — no primary statute or Board of Nursing rule was found either confirming or denying this for APRN entities specifically. Moderate confidence; flag as an inference rather than a codified rule if load-bearing.
This ownership analysis does not extend to any service outside this provider's own APRN scope (e.g., delegated medical-aesthetic procedures — see Colorado Medical Board Rule 800, 3 CCR 713-30), which stays physician-controlled regardless of the APRN's own practice-entity ownership.
Sources for the supervision rules (6)
- C.R.S. § 12-255-104 — Definitions
- C.R.S. § 12-255-111 — Requirements for Advanced Practice Registered Nurse Registrationsecondary
- C.R.S. § 12-255-112 — Prescriptive Authority, Advanced Practice Registered Nursessecondary
- C.R.S. § 12-255-113 — Professional Liability Insurance
- 3 CCR 716-1.14 — Colorado Board of Nursing, Rules to Register APRNssecondary
- 3 CCR 716-1.15 — Colorado Board of Nursing, Rules for Prescriptive Authority for APRNssecondary
About Colorado's rules
Colorado is a full-practice-authority state for all five APRN roles (NP/PMHNP/CRNA/CNM/CNS) — no physician agreement is ever required to practice. APRNs instead face a 750-hour prescribing mentorship (not necessarily physician-led) before 'full' (vs. 'provisional') prescriptive authority — a credentialing gate, not a supervision relationship. PAs moved from physician 'supervision' to an hours-gated 'collaborative agreement' under SB23-083 (2023) — not 'HB23-1214,' which could not be located and appears to be a misattribution. Colorado licenses estheticians; it has not deregulated the profession.
Other clinicians in Colorado: see the state overview.