What are the requirements of a physician to collaborate with a Florida NP?

In Florida, the requirements of a physician to collaborate with a nurse practitioner include entering into a supervisory protocol with the APRN and making specific notices to the Board of Medicine. The physician must notify the Board within 30 days of entering a new protocol and within 30 days of terminating it—stating how many APRNs are already under protocol—and, if supervising additional offices, must conspicuously post the physician’s schedule at those locations¹²³.

Physicians must also comply with office supervision limits tied to their practice type and location:

• Primary care physicians may supervise no more than four offices in addition to the physician’s primary practice location⁴.
• Specialty care physicians may supervise no more than two offices in addition to the physician’s primary practice location⁵.
• For offices primarily providing dermatologic or skin care services where the APRN is not under onsite physician supervision, the physician must submit the addresses of all such offices to the Board, be board certified or eligible in dermatology or plastic surgery, keep each such office within the statutory distance parameters, and supervise only one additional office beyond the primary practice location⁶. A physician’s “primary practice location” is the address on the physician’s Board of Medicine profile⁷.

Collaboration occurs within the framework of a supervisory protocol, and that protocol must be available at the APRN’s practice location(s)¹⁸. Florida law does not specify particular meeting requirements between physicians and APRNs for these protocols.