PharmD · South Dakota
Collaborative Drug Therapy Management for Pharmacists in South Dakota
Yes, a written agreement with a physician is required before you manage drug therapy. South Dakota calls it a Protocol.
Represents SD's protocol-based drug-therapy-management authority (SDCL 36-11-19.1(6)), not ordinary dispensing licensure, which is out of scope here. Pharmacists may 'initiate or modify drug therapy by protocol...established and approved within a licensed health care facility or by a practitioner authorized to prescribe drugs' — recently amended by SL 2025, ch 154.
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
SDCL 36-11-2.2 expressly states the practice of pharmacy 'does not authorize a pharmacist to prescribe drugs as a practitioner.' The protocol-based drug-therapy-management authority in 36-11-19.1(6) allows initiating/modifying already-prescribed therapy, not independent prescribing; no controlled-substance-specific authority was found.
Written agreement
Required
South Dakota's statute uses 'protocol ... established and approved' rather than a named 'collaborative practice agreement' document, a functionally similar gating concept to other states' CPAs; the exact form and content requirements are not spelled out.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — No pharmacist-ownership requirement identified for a general pharmacy permit, consistent with the permissive pattern in most states
What a collaborating physician costs here
Typical monthly cost in South Dakota
$500 – $600
Estimate for one Pharmacist. Standard-tier state.
About South Dakota's rules
SD is unusually permissive: NP/CNM need only 1,040 practice hours (or a collaborative agreement with ANY physician OR already-independent NP/CNM) to become fully independent (SDCL 36-9A), and a 2025 reform (SL 2025, ch 149) gives PAs the same kind of pathway after 6,000 hours plus NCCPA certification. Older sources citing a fixed PA-per-physician ratio are now outdated — that cap was repealed.
Other clinicians in South Dakota: see the state overview.