Protocol · NP · Montana
Practice Protocol for Nurse Practitioners in Montana
Nurse Practitioners practice independently in Montana. A practice protocol is voluntary; here is what one covers and what the state does require.
Montana's Nurse Practice Act does not condition NP practice on a supervising-physician or collaborative-practice agreement — NPs are widely classified (AANP and others) as full-practice-authority. Prescriptive authority is granted directly by the Board of Nursing (§ 37-8-202, MCA) rather than delegated by a collaborating physician. See state-level notes on HB 810 (2023).
What a voluntary Nurse Practitioner protocol covers in Montana
Montana requires no written protocol for nurse practitioners. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The Montana Board of Nursing and the Montana Board of Pharmacy governs nurse practitioners here.
Montana does not require the Nurse Practitioner to enter into a collaboration or supervision agreement with a physician at any point in the Nurse Practitioner's career. The Nurse Practitioner evaluates, diagnoses, orders and interprets tests, and starts and manages treatment, including prescribing, under the Nurse Practitioner's own license, consistent with Title 37, chapter 8, of the Montana Code Annotated.
Source: Mont. Code Ann. § 37-8-409
This Agreement's terms regarding the Nurse Practitioner accordingly serve to define the working relationship, referral pathways, and any Medical Director oversight between the Parties, and are not themselves required by Montana law as a condition of the Nurse Practitioner's authority to practice.
- A voluntary protocol also carries 1 scope, 1 education and 1 registration clauses, authored in the document itself.
Statutes and rules these clauses cite
- Mont. Code Ann. § 37-8-409statute
Conditions under which an advanced practice registered nurse may practice; current text contains no physician collaboration or supervision agreement requirement.
What Montana does require
The supervision and prescribing rules that apply to nurse practitioners regardless of any protocol.
Proximity
No proximity requirement
No physician proximity/availability requirement is codified for NP practice in Montana.
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
Requires individual DEA registration.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional under current statute as researched — no collaborative or supervisory agreement is required for NP practice in Montana.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Professional Corporation (Title 35, ch. 4, MCA) or comparable professional entity — shares/membership limited to persons licensed in the service rendered; an NP may independently own a nursing-services entity under this framework.
Sources for the supervision rules (5)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 37-8-202 — Board of Nursing Powers and Duties (prescriptive authority)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 37-8-409 — Advanced Practice Registered Nursing
- Admin. R. Mont. 24.159.1463 — Application for Prescriptive Authoritysecondary
- Admin. R. Mont. 24.159.1464 — Prescribing Practices
- Montana House Bill 810 (2023, not confirmed enacted) — would have required 2-year APRN collaboration
About Montana's rules
House Bill 810 (2023) would have imposed a 2-year physician/NP-collaboration requirement on APRNs; it was referred to committee and this research could not confirm it became law — current APRN statute text found shows no such requirement, so NP/CRNA/CNM/CNS are coded as independent, but verify this hasn't changed before relying on it. Montana repealed its corporate-practice-of-medicine statute in 1995; CPOM entries below reflect residual board rule, not a clear statutory line.
Other clinicians in Montana: see the state overview.