Protocol · NP · Oregon
Practice Protocol for Nurse Practitioners in Oregon
Nurse Practitioners practice independently in Oregon. A practice protocol is voluntary; here is what one covers and what the state does require.
OAR 851-050-0005(5): NPs are 'independently responsible and accountable' for managing patient care. No collaborating/supervising physician, written agreement, or experience threshold is required by ORS 678 or OAR 851 division 50 — Oregon has recognized independent NP practice since 1979.
What a voluntary Nurse Practitioner protocol covers in Oregon
Oregon requires no written protocol for nurse practitioners. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The Oregon State Board of Nursing and the Oregon Board of Pharmacy governs nurse practitioners here.
Oregon does not require the Nurse Practitioner to enter into a supervision or collaboration agreement with a physician. The Nurse Practitioner practices, diagnoses, and prescribes, including Schedule II through V controlled substances, under the Nurse Practitioner's own license, consistent with ORS 678.375 and 678.390.
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 Oregon 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.
What Oregon does require
The supervision and prescribing rules that apply to nurse practitioners regardless of any protocol.
Proximity
No proximity requirement
No physician availability/proximity standard is codified for NP practice — consistent with full independent-practice status.
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
Prescriptive authority requires Board approval/registration but is not gated by any physician agreement.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional — no Oregon statute or Board of Nursing rule conditions NP practice on a physician agreement, at any experience level.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Professional corporation under ORS 58.376 — NPs may jointly hold all voting shares/board seats with physicians and PAs, or wholly own an NP-only professional corporation; no physician ownership is required.
ORS 58.376(3)-(4) bars a non-licensee, or a licensee acting outside their own scope, from directing or controlling another licensee's professional judgment.
Sources for the supervision rules (5)
- ORS 678.010 — Definitions (nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist, CRNA)secondary
- ORS 678.390 — Board authorization of prescriptive authoritysecondary
- OAR 851-050-0005 — Nurse Practitioner Scope of Practicesecondary
- OAR 851-050-0004 — Nurse Practitioner Practice Requirements (hours-based licensure renewal/re-entry pathways; no physician-collaboration language)secondary
- ORS 58.376 — Professional corporations: physician/PA/NP joint ownershipsecondary
About Oregon's rules
Oregon has no physician-supervision requirement for NP/CNS/CRNA and replaced PA 'supervision' with a non-supervisory 'collaboration agreement' (ORS 677.495-677.525, recodified by H.B. 4010, eff. June 6, 2024). CNM and PMHNP are population foci under the single NP license (OAR 851-050-0005), not separate license categories. CRNA/CNS entity co-ownership with physicians is unconfirmed — ORS 58.376 names only physicians, PAs, and NPs.
Other clinicians in Oregon: see the state overview.