PA · New Mexico
Collaborative Drug Therapy Management for Physician Assistants in New Mexico
Yes, a written agreement with a physician is required before you prescribe and adjust drug therapy. New Mexico calls it a Supervisory Practice Agreement.
No independent-practice pathway exists — a PA must always practice under a licensed physician relationship. After ~3 years under physician supervision, the statute's language shifts from 'supervision' to 'collaboration' with a physician (§ 61-6C-8, NMSA), which loosens day-to-day involvement but does not remove the physician relationship itself.
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
Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
16.10.15 NMAC: collaboration/supervision 'shall not be construed to require the physical presence of the licensed physician at the time and place services are rendered' — effective supervision requires 'on-going availability of direct communication, either face-to-face or by electronic means,' with a means for immediate communication. No mile/minute radius is codified.
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
May prescribe Schedule II–V controlled substances under physician supervision or collaboration and an established PA-patient relationship (Controlled Substances Act; PAs are defined as 'practitioners'); requires state controlled-substance registration and DEA registration. New Mexico sets no schedule-specific day-supply cap.
Written agreement
Required
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — New Mexico professional corporations must be owned entirely by licensees of the same profession — a PA-owned PC cannot include physician co-owners, and a physician-owned PC cannot include a PA. New Mexico has no CPOM doctrine restricting non-licensee employment of physicians generally (1987 A.G. opinion), but the professional-corporation single-profession rule is a separate, narrower restriction.
Whether a PA can independently own a single-profession PA-only PC, rather than practising through a physician-owned entity, is not spelled out.
Sources for the supervision rules (4)
- N.M. Stat. Ann. § 61-6C-7 — Physician Assistants; Rulessecondary
- N.M. Stat. Ann. § 61-6C-8 — Supervising or Collaborating Licensed Physician; Responsibilitysecondary
- 16.10.15 NMAC — New Mexico Medical Board PA Supervision Rule
- N.M. Stat. Ann. § 30-31-18 — Controlled Substances Act, Prescriptionssecondary
What a collaborating physician costs here
Typical monthly cost in New Mexico
$500 – $800
Estimate for one Physician Assistant. This state's proximity rules add a small premium.
About New Mexico's rules
New Mexico has no corporate-practice-of-medicine doctrine (1987 A.G. opinion) — non-physician entities may employ physicians if clinical judgment isn't controlled — but professional corporations must still be single-profession owned (a PA/NP/etc. entity can't mix ownership with physicians). NP/CRNA/CNM/CNS practice independently with full prescriptive authority (Schedules II–V); PA remains the outlier requiring ongoing physician involvement.
Other clinicians in New Mexico: see the state overview.