PA · Maine
Collaborative Drug Therapy Management for Physician Assistants in Maine
Yes, a written agreement with a physician is required before you prescribe and adjust drug therapy. Maine calls it a Collaborative Agreement.
Below 4,000 hours, a PA must work under a collaborative agreement with an active physician describing scope of practice (32 M.R.S. § 2594-F). At/above 4,000 hours, a PA may be the principal clinical provider in a practice with no physician partner, but still needs a lighter 'practice agreement' addressing physician availability for collaboration/consultation — not full independence from any agreement at all.
Independent practice requires: ≥4,000 hours of documented clinical practice (verified to the Board of Licensure in Medicine).
What the physician relationship must look like
The rules the physician relationship has to follow. Each fact comes from the statute or board rule listed under sources.
Proximity
under 4,000 hours of clinical practice (collaborative agreement): Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
32 M.R.S. § 2594-F states collaboration 'does not require the physical presence of the physician' and may occur through electronic means. No mile/minute radius is codified. A PA in a physician group practice or a facility with its own credentialing/privileging system may use that system in lieu of a collaborative agreement.
4,000+ hours of clinical practice (practice agreement, principal clinical provider): Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
The practice agreement need only state that a physician 'will be available to the physician assistant for collaboration or consultation' — no on-site requirement or fixed radius.
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
Separate prescribing terms required · controlled substances permitted
PAs may prescribe controlled substances within the scope of the collaborative or practice agreement and need their own DEA registration. Maine does not state schedule-level restrictions such as a Schedule II day-supply cap.
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required
This ownership question is legally distinct from the clinical collaborative/practice agreement above.
Sources for the supervision rules (3)
- 32 M.R.S. § 2594-F — Physician Assistant collaborative/practice agreementssecondary
- 32 M.R.S. § 3270-G — Collaborative agreement approval by the Board of Licensure in Medicine
- P.L. 2019, ch. 627 — An Act To Improve Access to Physician Assistant Care
What a collaborating physician costs here
Typical monthly cost in Maine
$500 – $600
Estimate for one Physician Assistant. Standard-tier state.
About Maine's rules
Maine's provider categories follow different independence models: NPs graduate to full practice after 24 months of registered (not written-agreement) supervision; PAs graduate after 4,000 documented clinical hours but still need a lighter 'practice agreement' afterward; CNMs/CNSs appear independent from initial licensure; and CRNAs remain physician/dentist-accountable except in critical-access/rural hospitals. Do not assume a single APRN framework applies uniformly.
Other clinicians in Maine: see the state overview.