Protocol · PharmD · New Mexico
Practice Protocol for Pharmacists in New Mexico
Required. New Mexico law names the instrument a Written Guidelines or Protocol. Below: the board that governs it, what it must contain, and the terms it has to carry.
Represents New Mexico's 'pharmacist clinician' credential under the Pharmacist Prescriptive Authority Act (§§ 61-11B-1 to -3, NMSA) — a nationally distinctive, more advanced tier than a typical CPA state, but still requires registering a named supervising physician and a protocol of collaborative practice with the New Mexico medical board, not just the pharmacy board. Base dispensing licensure needs no physician agreement and is out of scope here.
What a New Mexico Written Guidelines or Protocol must contain
Governed by the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the Written Guidelines or Protocol must satisfy.
New Mexico does not grant prescriptive authority to a pharmacist solely by virtue of ordinary pharmacist licensure. A Pharmacist who has separately obtained the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy's "pharmacist clinician" certification may exercise prescriptive authority, but only pursuant to written guidelines or a protocol established and approved by the Physician, who must be in active practice and may grant authority only within the Physician's own current scope of practice, as provided under the Pharmacist Prescriptive Authority Act, NMSA 1978 §§ 61-11B-1 to 61-11B-3.
Source: NMSA 1978 §§ 61-11B-1 to 61-11B-3 (Pharmacist Prescriptive Authority Act)
A copy of the written guidelines or protocol shall be kept on file at the Pharmacist's place of practice and filed with the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy.
Source: 16.19.4 NMAC
- The Written Guidelines or Protocol also carries 1 scope, 1 education, 1 registration and 1 authority clauses, authored in the document itself.
Statutes and rules these clauses cite
- 16.19.4 NMACregulation
New Mexico Board of Pharmacy rule governing pharmacist clinician certification, protocol requirements, and prescriptive authority.
Terms it has to carry
Ratio, proximity, chart review, meeting and prescribing terms the Written Guidelines or Protocol has to carry, from New Mexico'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
Prescriptive authority is exercised 'in accordance with guidelines or protocol' registered with the medical board (16.19.4.18 NMAC). The rule contains no affirmative grant of controlled-substance prescribing under that protocol, so controlled substances are shown as not allowed as the conservative default rather than a confirmed bar; confirm with the Board of Pharmacy or Medical Board.
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — No pharmacist-ownership requirement in New Mexico pharmacy licensing statute or rule; materially more permissive than the professional-corporation framework governing physicians and APRNs
Sources for the supervision rules (3)
- N.M. Stat. Ann. §§ 61-11B-1 to -3 — Pharmacist Prescriptive Authority Act
- 16.19.4 NMAC — New Mexico Board of Pharmacy Pharmacist Clinician Rule
- N.M. Admin. Code § 16.19.4.17-.18 — Pharmacist Cliniciansecondary
About New Mexico's rules
New Mexico has no corporate-practice-of-medicine doctrine (1987 A.G. opinion) — non-physician entities may employ physicians if clinical judgment isn't controlled — but professional corporations must still be single-profession owned (a PA/NP/etc. entity can't mix ownership with physicians). NP/CRNA/CNM/CNS practice independently with full prescriptive authority (Schedules II–V); PA remains the outlier requiring ongoing physician involvement.
Other clinicians in New Mexico: see the state overview.