For nurse practitioners · Illinois

A full-practice track inside a reduced-practice state.

An APRN certified as an NP, nurse midwife, or clinical nurse specialist (not CRNA) gains 'full practice authority' and sheds the written collaborative agreement by filing a notarized attestation of 250 hours of continuing education/training and 4,000 hours of clinical experience after first national certification.

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Every state with a pathway

The moment

The transition, and the moment it ends

Illinois is a reduced-practice state — the written collaborative agreement is the default, and it stays the default for APRNs who never file. What Illinois runs is a licensure-based full-practice-authority track: 4,000 post-certification clinical hours plus 250 hours of continuing education or training, claimed by notarized attestation, and the collaborative agreement falls away.

Two controlled-substance lines survive into independence, and they get equal billing here: Schedule II narcotics may be prescribed only within a consultation relationship with a physician, and benzodiazepines beyond a 120-day supply require the same.

The transition

4,000 post-certification clinical hours plus 250 hours of continuing education or training, by notarized attestation

The moment it ends

Notarized attestation filed with the Department (IDFPR), which administers the result as a distinct FPA-APRN license

The timeline

Created by P.A. 100-513 (2017), effective Jan. 1, 2018; text verified as amended through P.A. 102-75 (eff. 1-1-22) and P.A. 103-60 (eff. 1-1-24)

The statute

225 ILCS 65/65-43

The receipt

Other platforms would show a testimonial here. Gale has no Illinois NPs to quote, and we do not invent people — so here is the dated, sourced fact instead.

Illinois is otherwise a reduced-practice state, but since P.A. 100-513 (2017) it has run a licensure-based FPA track with an unusually precise controlled-substance line: Schedule II narcotics only within a physician consultation relationship, while benzodiazepines are allowed up to a 120-day supply before the same requirement kicks in.

225 ILCS 65/65-43

Scope and carve-outs

The grant and the strings, at equal weight

Practice without a written collaborative agreement, with carve-outs: Schedule II narcotic drugs (e.g., opioids) may be prescribed only in a consultation relationship with a physician, and benzodiazepines beyond a 120-day supply likewise require physician consultation; CRNAs are excluded from FPA.

What Gale runs

The inventory, split honestly. Nothing dark is dressed as live.

In the product today

  • Scheduling and the calendar.
  • Notes, with a scribe that drafts during the visit — you stay the final editor of every note.
  • Telehealth where the chart lives.
  • The patient record — see a sample chart, no signup.
  • Superbills for the patient who wants to claim out-of-network benefits.
  • The Fee Schedule — the one Gale document that states the fee.
  • Your practice page, in the public directory compiled from the NPPES registry.

Opening with the founding cohort

  • Concierge memberships — a monthly plan your practice sells on its own terms. Not sellable yet: enrollment fails closed behind a legal switch until counsel clears it. No countdown — when it clears, it clears.
  • The loop tracker — every referral, lab, and question a visible loop with an owner, a state, and a promised window. Closing one requires an outcome note; nothing silently expires.
  • The guided founding sequence — practice setup walked step by step with the first cohort: entity, posted prices, the practice page, the first visit.
The economics

During the transition, someone signs — and the signature is a cost line, in money or in kind. Independence retires it. What Gale adds is built to stay just as legible.

Gale’s side of the ledger is deliberately short. The software is free, and Gale earns one flat all-in fee on a transaction — charged only when your practice is actually paid, never as a subscription, never with per-feature line items, never a spread on your rate. The number itself lives in exactly one document, on purpose, so it can never quietly say two different things in two places: the Fee Schedule states it.
The playbook

The deepest state cluster we have built is California’s — eight guides on the 103/104 ladder, cited to the statute and the board’s own filings. They are California’s rules, not Illinois’s; the same treatment is coming state by state. Until then, they show the depth of homework to expect from us.

The California playbook →
Questions with citable answers
No. Illinois is a reduced-practice state that runs an FPA designation track. An APRN without the designation still needs a written collaborative agreement; the designation — 4,000 post-certification hours plus 250 CE/training hours, by notarized attestation — removes it for that individual.
Schedule II narcotic drugs — opioids included — may be prescribed only in a consultation relationship with a physician, even with FPA. Benzodiazepines are allowed up to a 120-day supply before the same consultation requirement applies.
No. It covers APRNs certified as nurse practitioners, nurse midwives, and clinical nurse specialists. CRNAs are excluded from the FPA track.
Where to start

Your page may already exist

Gale publishes a public directory compiled from the NPPES registry. Find your listing, claim it, and see how you rank for your own name — that page is the front door your independent practice will be found through.

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