Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Cheat Sheet for Virginia
Requirements for Supervising Physician agreements in Virginia, plus a free agreement builder tailored to Virginia law.
Provider supervision requirements in Virginia
Updated 2026-08-12
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.
No provider type below has a codified chart-review percentage, countersignature rule, or numeric proximity radius — all are left to the practice agreement. CPOM (ownership) is governed by Title 13.1's PC/PLLC statutes, which explicitly list APRNs (NP/CRNA/CNM/CNS) as eligible independent owners but do not enumerate PAs — the PA ownership pathway is an inference from that omission, not a confirmed holding. Virginia has no independent corporate-practice-of-medicine common-law doctrine (a 1992 AG opinion, secondary-sourced only).
Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
Independent practice requires: equivalent of ≥3 years full-time clinical experience — same 5,400-hour figure as general NP (1,800 hrs/year × 3, per 18VAC90-30-86; see that entry's note on the ≈4,500-hour figure some secondary sources repeat in error); attestation from a patient care team physician who supervised the experience, or (per H.B. 971, eff. 7/1/2024) an 'attesting nurse practitioner' who has held autonomous-practice status ≥3 years
PMHNPs qualify for autonomous practice under the same § 54.1-2957 framework as general NPs; Virginia's only PMHNP-specific carve-out is the higher collaboration ratio below (18VAC90-40-90), not a separate independence pathway.
Proximity
Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
Same standard as general NPs — no codified mile/minute radius or on-site requirement; practice agreement need only address availability for routine and urgent consultation (§ 54.1-2957, 18VAC90-40-90).Chart review
Not codified — left to the practice agreement
Prescriptive authority
Separate prescribing terms required · controlled substances permitted
Same statutory scope as general NPs (Schedules II–VI, § 54.1-2957.01) — no PMHNP-specific schedule restriction found; autonomous-practice PMHNPs prescribe within their own scope without agreement-based restriction.Practice ownership (CPOM)
Licensee-only ownership required — Same as the general `np` entry — Professional Limited Liability Company (PLLC) under § 13.1-1102 (APRNs, which includes NP population foci such as PMHNP, are explicitly eligible independent owners), or a Professional Corporation under § 13.1-543.
Supervision ratio
Up to 10 at a time
The one PMHNP-specific numeric rule found in Virginia code: up to 10 psychiatric-mental-health NPs per physician, vs. 6 for general NPs (18VAC90-40-90). NPs without prescriptive authority, and NPs who have already achieved autonomous-practice status, are not counted toward this cap.Meeting cadence
Not codified — left to the practice agreement
Written agreement
Required
$700–$1,000/mo
Estimated PMHNP supervision cost in Virginia
Available Supervising Physicians in Virginia
Browse supervising physicians open to new collaborations near you.