PharmD · Rhode Island
Collaborative Practice Agreement for Pharmacists in Rhode Island
Yes, a written physician agreement is required. Rhode Island calls it a Written Collaborative Practice Agreement.
Represents RI's Collaborative Pharmacy Practice tier (Ch. 5-19.2) for drug therapy management, not ordinary dispensing licensure, which is out of scope here. Unusually burdensome approval chain: each agreement needs sign-off from the Board of Pharmacy, then the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline, then the Director, before practice may begin.
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 · no controlled-substance authority
Ch. 5-19.2 authorizes 'drug therapy management' (initiating/adjusting therapy) under a protocol approved by the collaborating physician(s), the Board of Pharmacy, the Board of Medical Licensure and Discipline, and the Director — no provision authorizing independent controlled-substance prescribing under this chapter was found; set to False rather than assumed.
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — Pharmacists are not among the healing-arts licensees enumerated in the § 7-5.1-1 Professional Service Corporation statute — pharmacy ownership is instead governed by RI's separate pharmacy-licensing statute (Title 5, Ch. 19.1), which this research pass did not confirm imposes a pharmacist-ownership requirement.
Treat non-licensee ownership as the probable default (consistent with NC/VA's permissive pharmacy-ownership pattern), not a confirmed finding.
Legal sources for these rules (1)
What a collaborating physician costs here
Typical monthly cost in Rhode Island
$500 – $600
Estimate for one Pharmacist. This state's rules add a restrictive-tier premium.
About Rhode Island's rules
RI is a Full Practice Authority state for NP/CNM (R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-34-44) and, since a 2019 reform (§ 5-54-8), no longer requires PAs to have a written practice agreement — 'collaboration' with an always-accessible physician replaced supervision and hospital ratio caps. CRNAs are the exception: RI has NOT taken the Medicare physician-supervision opt-out, and CRNA scope is statutorily bounded to the perioperative period.
Other clinicians in Rhode Island: see the state overview.