Protocol · NP · Utah
Practice Protocol for Nurse Practitioners in Utah
Nurse Practitioners practice independently in Utah. A practice protocol is voluntary; here is what one covers and what the state does require.
S.B. 36 (2023) eliminated the state-mandated physician contract as a condition of NP licensure — Utah became the 27th full-practice-authority state. NPs are not limited in any of the four elements of APRN practice (diagnose, treat, prescribe, refer) and need no collaborating-physician agreement.
What a voluntary Nurse Practitioner protocol covers in Utah
Utah requires no written protocol for nurse practitioners. These are the clauses a practice includes when it chooses to put one in writing. The Utah Board of Nursing and the Utah Board of Pharmacy governs nurse practitioners here.
Utah does not require the Nurse Practitioner to enter into a supervision or collaboration agreement with a physician for licensure, scope of practice, or prescribing, including controlled substances, following Senate Bill 36 (2023), which eliminated the former mandatory consultation and referral plan under Utah Code § 58-31b-101 et seq. The Nurse Practitioner practices under the Nurse Practitioner's own license, consistent with Utah Code § 58-31b-803.
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 Utah 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 Utah does require
The supervision and prescribing rules that apply to nurse practitioners regardless of any protocol.
Proximity
No proximity requirement
No supervising/collaborating physician relationship exists post-S.B. 36 — proximity is not applicable.
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
NPs prescribe Schedule II-V controlled substances under their own Utah Controlled Substance License and DEA registration, with no agreement-based gating post-S.B. 36.
Written agreement
Not required
Unconditional since S.B. 36 (2023) — no collaborating-physician contract or agreement of any kind is required for NP licensure or practice in Utah.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Professional Corporation (Title 16, Ch. 11) or Professional LLC (§ 48-3a-1106) — an NP may independently own a single-profession nursing PC/PLLC; non-licensees may not hold equity.
Full practice authority under S.B. 36 makes NP ownership straightforward relative to states requiring physician co-ownership.
About Utah's rules
S.B. 36 (2023) eliminated the physician-collaboration/contract requirement for ALL APRN roles (NP, CRNA, CNM, CNS), not just NPs — Utah is a full-independence state across the APRN scope. PAs remain on a separate, hours-tiered collaboration model (Utah Code § 58-70a-307) with no numeric ratio cap or chart-review percentage codified.
Other clinicians in Utah: see the state overview.