Protocol · PharmD · Minnesota
Practice Protocol for Pharmacists in Minnesota
Required. Minnesota law names the instrument a Written Collaborative 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 Minnesota's statutory 'collaborative practice' tier (§ 151.01, subd. 27b-27c) — initiating/managing/modifying drug therapy — not ordinary dispensing, which needs no physician relationship. No independent-prescriber pathway exists outside a collaborative practice agreement.
What a Minnesota Written Collaborative Practice Agreement must contain
Governed by the Minnesota Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the Written Collaborative Practice Agreement must satisfy.
The Pharmacist may engage in collaborative practice with the Physician pursuant to a written, signed collaborative practice agreement, as authorized by Minn. Stat. § 151.01, subd. 27. Such an agreement permits the Pharmacist, under mutually agreed conditions with the Physician, to initiate, manage, and modify drug therapy for the Physician's patients.
Source: Minn. Stat. § 151.01, subd. 27
The agreement shall constitute a specific written protocol describing the nature and scope of the activities the Pharmacist may engage in when initiating, managing, modifying, or discontinuing drug therapy, as provided under Minn. Stat. § 151.37. The Pharmacist shall document any therapy change in the patient's record or report it to the Physician, consistent with the agreement's terms.
Source: Minn. Stat. § 151.37
- The Written Collaborative Practice Agreement also carries 1 scope, 1 education, 1 registration and 1 authority clauses, authored in the document itself.
Statutes and rules these clauses cite
- Minn. Stat. § 151.01, subd. 27statute
Definition of pharmacist collaborative practice and collaborative practice agreement, authorizing a pharmacist to initiate, manage, and modify drug therapy under a written agreement with a practitioner.
- Minn. Stat. § 151.37statute
Practitioners who may enter a collaborative practice agreement with a pharmacist, and pharmacist protocol/documentation obligations when initiating, managing, modifying, or discontinuing drug therapy.
Terms it has to carry
Ratio, proximity, chart review, meeting and prescribing terms the Written Collaborative Practice Agreement has to carry, from Minnesota'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
Separate prescribing terms required · no controlled-substance authority
§ 151.01, subd. 27b–27c lets a pharmacist 'initiate, manage, and modify drug therapy' under a written collaborative practice agreement with a physician, PA or APRN, but no statutory language affirmatively grants controlled-substance authority under that agreement. Treat controlled substances as unsettled rather than clearly barred.
Written agreement
Required
Required only for the expanded collaborative-practice scope; ordinary dispensing/pharmacist licensure needs no agreement at all.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Pharmacy is an explicitly eligible owner category under Minn. Stat. § 319B.02, subd. 19 (citing §§ 151.01-151.40) — a licensed pharmacist may own a professional firm without a physician co-owner.
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.