PA · Montana
Collaborative Practice Agreement for Physician Assistants in Montana
Yes, a written physician agreement is required. Montana does not name a specific instrument.
Below 8,000 hours, a PA must practice under a written collaborative agreement with a physician OR with another PA who has 8,000+ hours (§ 37-20-203, MCA) — unusual among researched states in letting a PA-to-PA relationship satisfy the requirement. No numeric ratio cap is codified.
Independent practice requires: ≥8,000 hours of postgraduate clinical experience as a PA (or already actively practicing with 8,000+ hours before October 1, 2023).
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
Not codified — left to the agreement
Supervision ratio
Not codified — no cap on file
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
No separate agreement beyond the general collaborative agreement is required to prescribe — prescriptive authority flows from the PA's own license once collaboration (if below the 8,000-hour threshold) is in place.
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Montana Professional Corporation Act (Title 35, ch. 4, MCA) restricts shares in a professional corporation to 'qualified persons' licensed in the service the corporation renders; Montana repealed its explicit corporate-practice-of-medicine statute in 1995, but Board of Medical Examiners rule still treats practicing medicine in partnership/joint venture with an unlicensed person as unprofessional conduct.
Whether a PA can independently own the entity they practice through (vs. co-owning with a physician) was not confirmed in current statute — flagged as uncertain rather than asserted either way.
Legal sources for these rules (5)
- Mont. Code Ann. § 37-20-203 — Licensing of Physician Assistants — Collaborative Agreementssecondary
- Mont. Code Ann. § 37-20-301 — Requirements for Physician Assistant Practice
- Mont. Code Ann. § 37-20-403 — Physician Assistant Scope of Practice
- Mont. Code Ann. § 37-20-404 — Prescribing and Dispensing Authority
- 2023 Mont. Laws, ch. 88 (S.B. 88) — replacing 'supervision' with 'collaborative agreements' for PAs
What a collaborating physician costs here
Typical monthly cost in Montana
$500 – $650
Estimate for one Physician Assistant. Standard-tier state.
About Montana's rules
House Bill 810 (2023) would have imposed a 2-year physician/NP-collaboration requirement on APRNs; it was referred to committee and this research could not confirm it became law — current APRN statute text found shows no such requirement, so NP/CRNA/CNM/CNS are coded as independent, but verify this hasn't changed before relying on it. Montana repealed its corporate-practice-of-medicine statute in 1995; CPOM entries below reflect residual board rule, not a clear statutory line.
Other clinicians in Montana: see the state overview.