Protocol · PA · West Virginia
Practice Protocol for Physician Assistants in West Virginia
Required. West Virginia law names the instrument a Practice Notification, 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.
Under current law, PAs 'shall practice in collaboration with physicians' with no experience or hours-based exit (W. Va. Code St. R. § 24-2-8). SB 956 (2026), which would eliminate this entirely and let PAs own practices, was still moving through the House when this was written; confirm its status before assuming it is in effect.
What a West Virginia Practice Notification must contain
Governed by the West Virginia Board of Medicine and the West Virginia Board of Pharmacy. Each numbered item is a statutory requirement the Practice Notification must satisfy.
The Physician Assistant ("PA") may not begin practice with the Physician until the applicable board has issued written notice that a practice notification filed under W. Va. Code § 30-3E-10a is complete and active. West Virginia law does not fix a numerical limit on the number of Physician Assistants one physician may supervise.
The Physician shall provide the applicable board written notice within ten (10) days of the termination of the practice notification; failure to do so constitutes unprofessional conduct.
- The Practice Notification also carries 1 scope, 1 education and 1 registration clauses, authored in the document itself.
Terms it has to carry
Ratio, proximity, chart review, meeting and prescribing terms the Practice Notification has to carry, from West Virginia's supervision rules.
Proximity
Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
'Constant physical presence of the collaborating physician is not required as long as the collaborating physician and physician assistant are, or can be, easily in contact with one another' — no codified mile/minute radius located.
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 · controlled substances permitted
Prescriptive scope is set by the collaboration agreement or practice notification filed with the Board of Medicine; West Virginia sets no PA-specific schedule-level numeric limit (distinct from the APRN 3-day Schedule II rule noted for NPs).
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Authorized Medical Corporation under W. Va. Code § 30-3-15 — requires 100% physician/podiatric-physician shareholder ownership; PAs may be EMPLOYEES of such a corporation but, under current law, may not hold shares. (SB 956, if it becomes law, would add PAs as eligible shareholders — not yet confirmed in effect; see state-level notes.)
Sources for the supervision rules (4)
- W. Va. Code St. R. § 24-2-8 — Collaborative Practice Requirementssecondary
- W. Va. Code § 30-3-15 — Authorized Medical Corporationssecondary
- WV Board of Medicine — Physicians Assistants Practice Act overview
- SB 956 (2026, status unconfirmed when this was written) — PA business ownership and end of mandatory collaborationsecondary
About West Virginia's rules
Sourcing for West Virginia leans on Board of Nursing, Board of Medicine and Board of Pharmacy materials and secondary summaries rather than direct statute text, so confidence is lower than for most states. SB 956 (2026), which would let PAs own practices and end mandatory collaboration, had not been confirmed as finally passed and signed when this was written; the PA entries below reflect current, not pending, law.
Other clinicians in West Virginia: see the state overview.