Nurse Practitioner Cheat Sheet for Maryland
Requirements for Supervising Physician agreements in Maryland, plus a free agreement builder tailored to Maryland law.
Provider supervision requirements in Maryland
Updated 2026-09-03
Provided for educational and research purposes only — this is not legal advice. Laws and regulations change frequently, and this content may contain errors or omissions. Always confirm current requirements with a licensed attorney before relying on this for compliance decisions.
Maryland's APRN categories are not uniform: CRNPs and CNMs gained full practice authority in 2015 (after an 18-month new-graduate mentorship), CRNAs remain fully supervised with no prescriptive authority at all (Maryland is one of about 11 states granting CRNAs none), and only the psychiatric-mental-health population focus of CNS practice is independent. Maryland does not recognize PLLCs; professional entities use physician-only professional corporations, so multi-disciplinary ownership questions remain open.
Nurse Practitioner
Independent practice requires: 18 months of mentorship (available consultation/collaboration) from a Maryland-licensed physician or NP with ≥3 years' clinical experience — ONLY required for an NP never previously certified in Maryland or any other state; an NP already certified elsewhere is exempt from this mentorship entirely and practices independently from initial MD certification
The 2015 Nurse Practitioner Full Practice Authority Act eliminated the prior mandatory physician-attestation/collaboration requirement. The mentorship is informal (no written agreement filed) and time-bound, not indefinite — after 18 months (or immediately, if already certified elsewhere) the NP practices fully independently.
Proximity
first-time NP (never certified in any state) during the 18-month mentorship: Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
The mentor need only be 'available for advice, consultation, and collaboration, as needed' — no on-site or fixed-radius standard.after the 18-month mentorship, or any NP already certified in another state: No proximity requirement
No physician availability/proximity standard applies once independent.
Chart review
Not codified — left to the practice agreement
Prescriptive authority
Covered by practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
Schedule II-V. Schedule II-III prescriptions are capped at a 30-day supply per single filling under Maryland's general controlled-substance dispensing limits. Requires Maryland CDS registration and federal DEA registration.Practice ownership (CPOM)
Licensee-only ownership required — Physician-only professional corporations; Maryland does not recognize PLLCs, and no statute sets out an NP practice-entity ownership pathway
This ownership question is legally distinct from the clinical independence granted by the 2015 Act above.Supervision ratio
Not codified — left to the practice agreement
Meeting cadence
Not codified — left to the practice agreement
Written agreement
Not required
No written collaborative practice agreement is required at any point — even the 18-month first-time-NP mentorship is an informal consultation relationship, not a filed agreement.$500–$800/mo
Estimated NP supervision cost in Maryland
Available Supervising Physicians in Maryland
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