Protocol · PharmD · Washington
Practice Protocol for Pharmacists in Washington
Required. Washington law names the instrument a Collaborative Drug Therapy Agreement (CDTA), 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 Washington's Collaborative Drug Therapy Agreement (CDTA) tier — one of the broadest CDTA frameworks in the U.S. (WAC 246-945-350; RCW 18.64.011) — not ordinary pharmacist licensure. A CDTA is voluntary/negotiated with any WA-licensed prescriber and must be filed with the Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission and kept at the practice site; no numeric per-prescriber cap was found.
What a Washington Collaborative Drug Therapy Agreement (CDTA) must contain
Governed by the Washington State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the Collaborative Drug Therapy Agreement (CDTA) must satisfy.
The Pharmacist shall not initiate or modify a patient's drug therapy under this Agreement unless the Parties have first executed a written Collaborative Drug Therapy Agreement ("CDTA") naming the Physician as the authorizing practitioner and the Pharmacist as the collaborating pharmacist, and that CDTA has been filed with the Washington State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission and assigned a Commission identifier.
Source: WAC 246-945-350
When prescribing under the CDTA, the Pharmacist exercises the Pharmacist's own prescriptive authority and shall sign all prescriptions and orders in the Pharmacist's own name and credentials, not those of the Physician; the Physician need not authenticate each individual prescription the Pharmacist writes under the CDTA.
- The Collaborative Drug Therapy Agreement (CDTA) also carries 2 scope, 1 education, 1 registration and 1 authority clauses, authored in the document itself.
Statutes and rules these clauses cite
- WAC 246-945-350regulation
Washington State Pharmacy Quality Assurance Commission rule setting the mandatory minimum content and filing requirement for a Collaborative Drug Therapy Agreement (CDTA).
Terms it has to carry
Ratio, proximity, chart review, meeting and prescribing terms the Collaborative Drug Therapy Agreement (CDTA) has to carry, from Washington'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
Covered by the practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
Described by a Council on Pharmacy Standards secondary source as 'one of the broadest CDTA frameworks in the U.S.' — no schedule-specific numeric ceiling was located in statute.
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — No pharmacist-ownership requirement identified in Washington statute; the CDTA prescriptive-authority framework above is a clinical-practice question distinct from pharmacy-entity ownership
About Washington's rules
Washington is a full-independence state for ALL FOUR ARNP roles (NP, CRNA, CNM, CNS) under RCW 18.79, not just NPs — confirmed current via WAC 246-840-300/420 and Board of Nursing guidance. PAs are separate: HB 2041 (eff. Jan. 1, 2025) replaced supervision-only with a 4,000-hour supervision→collaboration tier (RCW 18.71A.120) with no numeric ratio cap.
Other clinicians in Washington: see the state overview.