Protocol · NP · Minnesota
Practice Protocol for Nurse Practitioners in Minnesota
Recognized but not required in every case. Minnesota law names the instrument a Collaborative Agreement, 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.
Full practice authority since 2015 for the ongoing relationship; the remaining 2,080-hour postgraduate collaborative-agreement gate (§ 148.211, subd. 1c) was repealed effective August 1, 2026 (H.F. 1794) — already in force as of this writing, so no agreement is required at any point.
What a voluntary Nurse Practitioner protocol covers in Minnesota
Minnesota requires no written protocol for nurse practitioners. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The Minnesota Board of Nursing and the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy governs nurse practitioners here.
Until the Nurse Practitioner completes two thousand eighty (2,080) hours of practice within a collaborative agreement, in a hospital or integrated clinical setting, with the Physician or with an experienced advanced practice registered nurse, as required by Minn. Stat. § 148.211, subd. 1c, the Nurse Practitioner shall practice pursuant to that collaborative agreement. Once the Nurse Practitioner completes those hours and submits written evidence of completion to the Minnesota Board of Nursing, no collaborative agreement is required for independent diagnosis, treatment, or prescribing, including of controlled substances with a DEA registration.
Source: Minn. Stat. § 148.211, subd. 1c
The collaborative agreement shall describe the working relationship between the Physician and the Nurse Practitioner, the scope of collaboration for managing patient care, the practice location and patient population, referral and communication protocols, and the Nurse Practitioner's prescribing scope. The agreement need not be filed with the Minnesota Board of Nursing but shall be kept at the practice site and produced to the Board upon request.
- The Collaborative Agreement also carries 1 scope, 1 education and 1 registration clauses, authored in the document itself.
Statutes and rules these clauses cite
- Minn. Stat. § 148.211, subd. 1cstatute
2,080-hour postgraduate collaborative-practice requirement for nurse practitioners and clinical nurse specialists before independent practice.
What Minnesota does require
The supervision and prescribing rules that apply to nurse practitioners regardless of any protocol.
Proximity
Not codified
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
§ 148.235, subd. 7a authorizes APRNs to prescribe/administer/dispense legend and controlled substances and order durable medical devices; subd. 7b requires individual DEA registration filed with the Board. No schedule-specific restriction found in the subdivisions reviewed.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional as of August 1, 2026 — before that date a collaborative agreement was required only during an initial 2,080-hour postgraduate period, never for ongoing practice; that gate is now repealed entirely.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Professional firm under Minn. Stat. ch. 319B — NP practice rides on the 'registered nursing' eligible-owner category (§ 319B.02, subd. 19, citing §§ 148.171-148.285, which includes APRN licensure). No physician co-owner is required.
Sources for the supervision rules (4)
About Minnesota's rules
H.F. 1794 repealed the NP/CNS 2,080-hour postgraduate collaborative-agreement rule (Minn. Stat. § 148.211, subd. 1c) effective August 1, 2026 — already in force. PA remains CONDITIONAL under a separate, still-active 2,080-hour rule (§ 147A.02(c)); 2025 reform bills (H.F. 89/S.F. 1083) to loosen it are pending, not confirmed enacted.
Other clinicians in Minnesota: see the state overview.