NP · California
Collaborative Practice Agreement for Nurse Practitioners in California
Yes, a written physician agreement is required. California calls it a Standardized Procedures.
A genuine three-tier pathway to full independence — among the most generous in this dataset. Tier 0 (standardized procedures) is supervised; 103 NP drops the agreement but requires a physician in the group; 104 NP is fully independent. 104 NP licenses could begin as early as Jan. 1, 2026; as of Aug. 2026 (7+ months later) no BRN confirmation of actual issuance was found, and BRN's own AB 890 page still uses pre-2026 phrasing.
Independent practice requires: '103 NP' tier (Bus. & Prof. Code §2837.103): national NP board certification + a 'transition to practice' of ≥3 full-time-equivalent years OR ≥4,600 hours of direct patient care within the preceding 5 years (need not be consecutive, per SB 1451 (2025)) — unlocks practice without standardized procedures, but only within a group practice setting that includes ≥1 physician; '104 NP' tier (Bus. & Prof. Code §2837.104): after ≥3 years practicing as a 103 NP in good standing (Board may reduce this for DNP holders) — unlocks fully independent practice outside any group/physician-integrated setting, including hospital medical staff privileges.
What the collaboration must look like
The rules the physician relationship has to follow. Each fact comes from the statute or board rule listed under sources.
Proximity
Tier 0 — standardized-procedures NP: Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
Bus. & Prof. Code §2836.1: physical presence is NOT required, but the physician must be available by telephonic contact at the time of the patient examination. No mileage/radius standard is codified.
103 NP: No proximity requirement
No distance requirement on individual encounters — the only 'proximity' element is being part of a group practice that includes ≥1 physician, not a per-encounter availability standard.
104 NP: No proximity requirement
No proximity requirement of any kind — fully independent practice.
Supervision ratio
Tier 0 — standardized-procedures NP: Up to 4 at a time
Bus. & Prof. Code §2836.1: 'no physician and surgeon shall supervise more than four nurse practitioners at one time.' Does not apply to 103 or 104 NPs, since neither has a formal 1:N supervision relationship.
Chart review
Not codified — left to the agreement
Meeting cadence
Not codified — left to the agreement
Prescriptive authority
Covered by the practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
Requires CE including a Schedule-II-specific component for NPs authorized to furnish Schedule II. The 103/104 resolution above rests on absence-of-cross-reference analysis, not an explicit BRN interpretive statement — reasonably solid but not a first-hand agency confirmation.
Written agreement
Required
Branches by tier. Tier 0 (default): 'standardized procedures' required (Bus. & Prof. Code §2836.1), jointly developed with a physician per content requirements in 16 CCR §1474. 103 NP: no standardized procedures, but must practice within a group that includes ≥1 physician. 104 NP: no agreement of any kind — full independence.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — General CPOM baseline (Bus. & Prof. Code §2400) applies, but NPs have a real same-profession carve-out: Bus. & Prof. Code §2775 recognizes 'nursing corporations,' and Corp. Code §13401.5(f), CONFIRMED via direct fetch, requires RNs/NPs hold ≥51% of shares, with the remainder open to 11 listed allied licensees (physicians, PAs, psychologists, chiropractors, acupuncturists, midwives, etc.). This lets an NP majority- or wholly-own their own practice ENTITY — a separate question from whether their CLINICAL practice still needs a physician relationship (Tier 0 does; 103/104 don't).
Corp. Code §13401.5(f)'s subsection letter and ≥51% structure are confirmed via a dedicated follow-up fetch, superseding the original secondary-sourced hedge.
Legal sources for these rules (11)
- Bus. & Prof. Code §2836.1 — Standardized procedures (Tier 0), 4-NP ratio cap
- Bus. & Prof. Code §2837.103 — '103 NP' transition-to-practice tier
- Bus. & Prof. Code §2837.104 — '104 NP' fully independent tier
- Bus. & Prof. Code §2400 — General CPOM bar
- Bus. & Prof. Code §2775 — Nursing corporations
- Corp. Code §13401.5(f) — Nursing corporation ownership percentages, confirmed verbatim
- Health & Safety Code §11165.4 — CURES consultation mandate
- 16 CCR §1474 — Standardized procedure content requirements (secondary-sourced for exact text)
- AB 890 (2020) — created the 103/104 NP independent-practice pathway
- SB 1451 (2024, Ch. 481, signed 9/22/2024, eff. 1/1/2025) — clarified transition-to-practice hours need not be consecutive; enabled 104 NP licensure starting as early as 1/1/2026 — chapter number/dates confirmed in a follow-up pass
- AB 583 (eff. 7/1/2026) — grants NPs death/fetal-death-certificate attestation authority; outside this file's supervision-requirements scope, noted for completeness only, not otherwise reflected below
What a collaborating physician costs here
Typical monthly cost in California
$500 – $600
Estimate for one Nurse Practitioner. Standard-tier state.
About California's rules
California's NPs reach genuine full independence (AB 890/SB 1451, ~6 years total) and CNMs need zero physician involvement for definitionally 'low-risk' pregnancy care — no hours threshold. NPs/PAs may also majority-own their own practice corporations (Corp. Code §13401.5), cutting against the assumption that CA's strict, actively-enforced CPOM regime (2026 AG settlements against Carbon Health, Aspen Dental) blocks all non-physician ownership. CRNA is order-based, not supervision-based. Esthetician laser use is a flat criminal misdemeanor — no delegation pathway exists.
Other clinicians in California: see the state overview.