Protocol · PharmD · Iowa
Practice Protocol for Pharmacists in Iowa
Required. Iowa law names the instrument a Written Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreement, 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.
Represents Iowa's collaborative pharmacy practice tier, not ordinary licensure — base dispensing needs no agreement and is out of scope here. The Board declined to authorize PAs (who lack independent prescribing authority) as collaborating practitioners; only independent prescribers may enter a CPA. No independence pathway away from the CPA was found.
What an Iowa Written Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreement must contain
Governed by the Iowa Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the Written Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreement must satisfy.
The Pharmacist may provide patient care and drug therapy management services not otherwise permitted to a pharmacist by general licensure only pursuant to a written collaborative pharmacy practice agreement with the Physician, in accordance with rules of the Iowa Board of Pharmacy under Iowa Code § 155A.48. The agreement shall define the nature, scope, conditions, and limitations of the services the Pharmacist may provide.
Source: Iowa Code § 155A.48
Iowa law does not require a pharmacist to enter into a collaborative pharmacy practice agreement in order to hold a pharmacist license or dispense medications generally; the agreement described in this Agreement is required only for the expanded patient care and drug therapy management services described above. Separately, the Iowa Board of Pharmacy may authorize pharmacists to order and administer certain medications under statewide protocols that operate independently of any physician-specific agreement; those statewide protocols are not addressed by this Agreement.
- The Written Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreement also carries 1 registration clauses, authored in the document itself.
Statutes and rules these clauses cite
- Iowa Code § 155A.48statute
Authorizes collaborative pharmacy practice agreements between a pharmacist and a practitioner for patient care and drug therapy management services not otherwise permitted to a pharmacist by general licensure.
Terms it has to carry
Ratio, proximity, chart review, meeting and prescribing terms the Written Collaborative Pharmacy Practice Agreement has to carry, from Iowa's supervision rules.
Proximity
Not codified — left to the agreement
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
Covered by the practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
May provide patient care and drug-therapy-management services not otherwise permitted to a pharmacist, within the CPA's defined scope (Iowa Admin. Code 657—8.34). Controlled-substance schedule limits within a CPA are not stated in the rule.
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — Iowa pharmacy permits do not require pharmacist ownership of the permit-holding entity; a licensed pharmacist-in-charge must retain professional control over dispensing (Iowa Code Ch. 155A).
Sources for the supervision rules (1)
About Iowa's rules
Iowa APRNs (NP/CRNA/CNM/CNS) may practice, diagnose, and independently prescribe (including controlled substances, with DEA/Board of Pharmacy registration) with no collaborative agreement required by the Board of Nursing — a voluntary agreement is permitted but optional. PAs remain supervised_only under a 5-PA-per-physician cap (Iowa Code Ch. 148C).
Other clinicians in Iowa: see the state overview.