Registered Nurse Cheat Sheet for Pennsylvania

Requirements for Supervising Physician agreements in Pennsylvania, plus a free agreement builder tailored to Pennsylvania law.

Provider supervision requirements in Pennsylvania

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.

Pennsylvania has no independent-practice pathway for CRNPs — SB 25-style full-practice-authority bills have been introduced every session without passing. PA (physician assistant) reform via Acts 78/79 of 2021 removed prior Board pre-approval of written agreements and the flat 100%-countersignature rule after the first year, but a written agreement and supervision remain mandatory. PA is a CPOM state: only licensed physicians may own a medical professional corporation.

Registered Nurse

Independent practice

RNs (general licensure, not an APRN) are not subject to physician-supervision or collaborative-agreement requirements in Pennsylvania under the Professional Nursing Law — RN practice is independent within the scope of professional nursing, distinct from the CRNP/CNM/CNS collaborative-agreement regimes above.


Proximity

Not codified — left to the practice agreement

Chart review

Not codified — left to the practice agreement

Prescriptive authority

Covered by practice agreement · no controlled-substance authority

RNs do not have independent prescriptive authority in Pennsylvania; they administer medications only as ordered by an authorized prescriber.

Practice ownership (CPOM)

Licensee-only ownership required — Same physician-only ownership regime governs any clinical PC an RN might practice through, but non-clinical businesses (staffing, home health) fall outside that regime entirely and carry no ownership restriction.

For medical-aesthetics (med-spa) businesses, an RN performs delegated laser/injectable procedures under physician delegation (a Medical Director) rather than independent RN authority — ownership and clinical-delegation authority are separate questions.

Supervision ratio

Not codified — left to the practice agreement

Meeting cadence

Not codified — left to the practice agreement

Written agreement

Not required

Unconditional — general RN licensure is never subject to physician supervision or a collaborative agreement, unlike the APRN/PA categories above.

Legal sources

63 P.S. § 211 et seq. — Professional Nursing Law

Free Supervising Physician Agreement for Pennsylvania

A Pennsylvania-specific Supervising Physician agreement, authored in minutes.

No account required

$400–$600/mo

Estimated RN supervision cost in Pennsylvania

Medium supervisor liability complexity

Available Supervising Physicians in Pennsylvania

Browse supervising physicians open to new collaborations near you.