History of APRN Collaborative Agreements for Prescriptive Authority

During the 1996 General Assembly, House Bill 358 was passed. This bill, which became effective July 15, 1996, gave APRNs the legal authority to write prescriptions for nonscheduled legend medications pursuant to a written collaborative practice agreement that defines an APRN’s scope of prescribing authority and that is signed by both the APRN and a physician. The specific statutory language can be found in KRS 314.011 (8), which defines APRN practice.  KRS 314.042 (8) and (10)speaks to the requirement for a written collaborative agreement prior to prescribing nonscheduled legend medications and the exemption for nurse anesthetists to have collaborative agreements in order to deliver anesthesia care.

Following passage of House Bill 358, KBN determined that it would monitor the existence of APRN collaborative agreements.  To that end, Kentucky Administrative Regulation 201 KAR 20:057, Scope and Standards of Practice of APRNs, was revised (effective June 18, 1997) to include definitions for "collaboration" and "collaborative agreements" and to identify specific information that must be contained within the collaborative practice agreement.

The required information includes the APRN’s:

• Name
• Practice address
• Practice phone number
• License/registration number(s)
• Specialty area of practice (i.e., type of certification)
• Name, address, phone number(s) and license numbers(s) of the collaborating physician(s) party to the agreement

On June 23, 1997, a memorandum was mailed to all APRNs registered in the Commonwealth of Kentucky notifying them of these new requirements.  Further, APRNs whose practice includes the prescription of nonscheduled legend medications were notified that they must submit copies of each collaborative agreement they may have entered into with a physician(s) to the KBN office by August 1, 1997.  Effective July 13, 2003, APRNs are no longer required to send a copy of the collaborative agreement to the KBN office, but shall upon request, furnish to the Board or its staff, a copy of the agreement.  Effective July 12, 2006, APRNs were granted limited authority to write prescriptions for controlled substances, and enter into a "collaborative agreement for the APRN Prescriptive Authority for Controlled Substances" (CAPA-CS).

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