Your Collaborating Physician Quit or Died: What Happens Next
Summary
Whether a nurse practitioner can keep seeing patients after a collaborating physician quits or dies depends on the state, and the answer was settled before the departure, by which practice-authority category the state puts you in. Full practice authority states change nothing. Where a collaborative agreement or supervision is required, the authority sits in the agreement rather than in your license, and none of the New York, Ohio or Georgia pages read for this article publishes a grace period.
By Gale Editorial · Updated 2026-09-01. Every figure cited to a dated source. How we write.
Can you keep seeing patients?
That depends on which of three practice-authority categories your state puts you in, and that was settled long before your collaborator gave notice. In a full practice authority state, a departure is a staffing problem and nothing more. The American Association of Nurse Practitioners defines the middle category, reduced practice, as state law requiring a career-long regulated collaborative agreement with another health provider in order for the NP to provide patient care 1Ref 1American Association of Nurse Practitioners (2026).State Practice Environment.AANP's definition of reduced practice as state law requiring a career-long regulated collaborative agreement for the NP to provide patient care..
Read that definition against what you hold. Where the agreement is the thing your patient care is authorized against, the agreement is what ended, and your license did not change at all. That distinction decides whether Thursday's schedule stands.
New York draws its line at hours. A nurse practitioner with more than 3,600 hours of qualifying practice experience is authorized to practice independently there, so a collaborator's exit touches nothing 2Ref 2New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (2026).Practice Information for Nurse Practitioners.New York's 3,600-hour threshold for independent practice, the requirement that an NP at or below it enter a written practice agreement with another collaborating physician, and the invalidity of the agreement when the collaborating physician dies.. At or below 3,600 hours, practice runs on a written practice agreement, and New York directs an NP in that band whose collaborating physician dies to enter one with another collaborating physician in order to continue practicing 2Ref 2New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (2026).Practice Information for Nurse Practitioners.New York's 3,600-hour threshold for independent practice, the requirement that an NP at or below it enter a written practice agreement with another collaborating physician, and the invalidity of the agreement when the collaborating physician dies..
California draws it by category. Under Assembly Bill 890 a 104 nurse practitioner may work independently within the population focus of their national certification 3Ref 3California Board of Registered Nursing (2026).Assembly Bill 890 — Nurse Practitioners: Scope of Practice: Practice Without Standardized Procedures (program page and frequently asked questions).California's 104 NP working independently within the population focus of national certification, and that an employer may still require a 103 NP to practice under standardized procedures., which turns a departure into a question of who covers the panel, not whether the panel can be seen at all.
What the departure does to the agreement
The departure ends the agreement. New York is explicit about death: if the collaborating physician dies, the written practice agreement signed by the nurse practitioner and physician is no longer valid 2Ref 2New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (2026).Practice Information for Nurse Practitioners.New York's 3,600-hour threshold for independent practice, the requirement that an NP at or below it enter a written practice agreement with another collaborating physician, and the invalidity of the agreement when the collaborating physician dies.. Ohio needs no death clause, because its statute conditions the practice rather than the paper. An APRN there may practice only in accordance with a standard care arrangement entered into with each physician or podiatrist with whom the nurse collaborates 4Ref 4Ohio General Assembly (2026).Section 4723.431 | Standard care arrangements..Ohio's statutory condition that an APRN may practice only in accordance with a standard care arrangement entered into with each collaborating physician or podiatrist..
Two routes reach the same place. One voids the document; the other makes practice conditional on a document that no longer has a counterparty. Neither arrives with a countdown attached.
Ohio does spell out the cheaper version of the problem. Where a physician is added or deleted within the same employment setting, the standard care arrangement is revised to reflect that change, and the rule states a new arrangement is not necessary in that circumstance 5Ref 5Ohio Board of Nursing (2026).Rule 4723-8-04 | Standard care arrangement for a certified nurse-midwife, certified nurse practitioner, and clinical nurse specialist..Ohio's revision route for adding or deleting a collaborating physician within the same employment setting, the required absence-coverage plan, the thirty-day board notification of a change in a collaborating physician's name and business address, and the three-year retention of superseded arrangements.. That rule carries an effective date of March 26, 2026. It helps only if another collaborating physician already works in that setting, which is the thing a solo practice does not have.
Retirement and resignation sit on thinner ground. New York is the only board page read here that addresses the death case, and none of the Ohio, Georgia or Pennsylvania pages distinguishes a death from a resignation. An agreement without a willing counterparty has stopped working either way.
Read the agreement before you cancel the schedule
Your own agreement may already name the person who covers. Ohio requires every standard care arrangement to include a plan for coverage in instances of emergency or planned absences of either the nurse or the collaborating physician 5Ref 5Ohio Board of Nursing (2026).Rule 4723-8-04 | Standard care arrangement for a certified nurse-midwife, certified nurse practitioner, and clinical nurse specialist..Ohio's revision route for adding or deleting a collaborating physician within the same employment setting, the required absence-coverage plan, the thirty-day board notification of a change in a collaborating physician's name and business address, and the three-year retention of superseded arrangements., so the document your departing collaborator signed is meant to say who steps in. Pull it before you touch the calendar, and read the absence clause first.
An absence clause is written for a vacation or a hospital admission. Whether it reaches a resignation is a question about your particular wording, and a coverage plan naming one specific physician who is also leaving reaches nowhere.
The employer layer sits on top of the statute. California's board notes that an employer can still require a 103 NP to practice under standardized procedures even where the state no longer does 3Ref 3California Board of Registered Nursing (2026).Assembly Bill 890 — Nurse Practitioners: Scope of Practice: Practice Without Standardized Procedures (program page and frequently asked questions).California's 104 NP working independently within the population focus of national certification, and that an employer may still require a 103 NP to practice under standardized procedures.. Your own contracts can carry a named-physician condition the state has dropped, so read the privileging file and the credentialing paperwork before you assume the statute is the whole rule.
If you prescribe as a psychiatric-mental health NP, the psychiatrist requirement for PMHNP collaborators may narrow the replacement pool in your state, and it is worth confirming before you start calling.
Prescribing after a collaborator quits
Prescribing is the first thing to stop, because in a state that ties prescriptive authority to the agreement it stops on its own. The federal registration is no backstop. DEA states that its authority to register practitioners to dispense controlled substances is contingent, in part, upon the applicant's authorization in the state in which he or she practices 6Ref 6U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Diversion Control Division (2026).Registration Q&A (Questions & Answers — Registration).The DEA statement that its authority to register practitioners to dispense controlled substances is contingent, in part, on the applicant's state authorization, and its silence on any timeline once that authority lapses.. The registration rests on the state authority underneath it.
That page sets no date. It says nothing about the day state authority lapses, and nothing else read here fills that gap, so treat the DEA side as a dependency rather than a clock.
Prescribing under a collaborator's DEA number is not a bridge across the gap. A controlled-substance prescription is issued on the responsibility of the prescribing practitioner, with a corresponding responsibility on the pharmacist who fills it 7Ref 7Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice (2024).§ 1306.04 Purpose of issue of prescription..Where responsibility for a controlled-substance prescription sits: on the prescribing practitioner, with a corresponding responsibility on the dispensing pharmacist.. The registration number on the script is a statement about who prescribed, and the practitioner it belongs to answers for it.
Refills already sitting in a pharmacy queue are the part nobody publishes an answer to. No page read for this article says whether a prescription written under the former agreement stays good once that agreement ends, and the pharmacist deciding whether to fill it works from the same silence.
Who files the replacement, and what it costs
In at least one state the filing is not yours to make. Georgia's protocol agreement applications are accessible and submittable online only by delegating physicians 8Ref 8Georgia Composite Medical Board (2026).APRN Protocol Registration.Georgia's rule that only a delegating physician may submit a protocol agreement online, the absence of any change-of-physician option, the $150 non-refundable fee, and the board's stated average processing time., so the replacement depends on a physician you may have just met sitting down at a portal. There is no amendment path either: the board states there is no option to change the delegating physician, since that requires a new protocol agreement completed by the new delegating physician 8Ref 8Georgia Composite Medical Board (2026).APRN Protocol Registration.Georgia's rule that only a delegating physician may submit a protocol agreement online, the absence of any change-of-physician option, the $150 non-refundable fee, and the board's stated average processing time..
Georgia charges a $150 non-refundable filing fee, and the board says it is currently experiencing processing times averaging 30 business days, depending on the complexity of the agreement, as its page read on September 1, 2026 8Ref 8Georgia Composite Medical Board (2026).APRN Protocol Registration.Georgia's rule that only a delegating physician may submit a protocol agreement online, the absence of any change-of-physician option, the $150 non-refundable fee, and the board's stated average processing time.. Both figures describe the board's current experience and move without notice, so re-read the board page rather than this one before planning around either.
Other states put the clock on the notice instead. Ohio requires the nurse to notify the board of any change in the name and business address of a collaborating physician not later than thirty days after the change takes effect 5Ref 5Ohio Board of Nursing (2026).Rule 4723-8-04 | Standard care arrangement for a certified nurse-midwife, certified nurse practitioner, and clinical nurse specialist..Ohio's revision route for adding or deleting a collaborating physician within the same employment setting, the required absence-coverage plan, the thirty-day board notification of a change in a collaborating physician's name and business address, and the three-year retention of superseded arrangements.. Pennsylvania's board keeps a separate termination filing for a prescriptive-authority collaborative agreement, alongside the initial application and the change application 9Ref 9Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs, State Board of Nursing (2026).Application Information (State Board of Nursing).The existence of Pennsylvania's separate termination filing for a CRNP prescriptive-authority collaborative agreement alongside the initial and change applications..
| State | What the departure requires | Who submits it |
|---|---|---|
| New York | a written practice agreement with another collaborating physician, for an NP at or below 3,600 qualifying hours | signed by the NP and the new physician |
| Ohio | a revision of the standard care arrangement where the replacement collaborates in the same employment setting, plus notice to the board within thirty days | the nurse |
| Georgia | a new protocol agreement, $150 non-refundable | the delegating physician, online |
| Pennsylvania | a termination filing, then a new prescriptive authority collaborative agreement | filed through the board's application set |
Finding a collaborating physician independently becomes the week's work, and it is a negotiation run under time pressure. Two terms carry most of the money: what a collaborating physician's monthly fee buys in chart review and availability, and whether it runs as a flat fee versus percentage collaborator pay. No public authority prices either one, so treat any quote as one practice's price.
There is no published grace period, so build the file
No board page read for this article publishes one. New York and Ohio each condition practice on a current agreement, Georgia requires a new protocol agreement from the incoming delegating physician, and none of the three pages names a cure window. That silence is not a deadline you can plan against. What can be planned against is the filing time, which Georgia at least publishes, and the notice window, which Ohio does.
Keep the superseded paper. Ohio requires copies of previously effective standard care arrangements to be retained by the nurse for three years and provided to the board on request 5Ref 5Ohio Board of Nursing (2026).Rule 4723-8-04 | Standard care arrangement for a certified nurse-midwife, certified nurse practitioner, and clinical nurse specialist..Ohio's revision route for adding or deleting a collaborating physician within the same employment setting, the required absence-coverage plan, the thirty-day board notification of a change in a collaborating physician's name and business address, and the three-year retention of superseded arrangements.. A retention rule of that shape is the reason to hold the old agreement, any termination filing and the dated correspondence in one place rather than in a departed physician's inbox.
The lookup is short. Start at your own board's practice page for nurse practitioners, then read the statute and rule it cites: New York's practice information page for nurse practitioners, Ohio Revised Code section 4723.431 and Administrative Code rule 4723-8-04, Georgia's composite medical board protocol registration page. Read the rule text rather than a summary of it, and note the effective date printed on it, since Ohio's arrangement rule carries one of March 26, 2026 and the statute behind it one of April 9, 2025.
Where the rule is silent on whether you may keep working while a filing is pending, that silence is not permission. Put the question to the board in writing, keep the answer with the agreement, and take close wording to your own counsel before deciding to leave the schedule open.
Common questions
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- 1.American Association of Nurse Practitioners (2026). State Practice Environment. American Association of Nurse Practitioners. link ✓AANP's definition of reduced practice as state law requiring a career-long regulated collaborative agreement for the NP to provide patient care.
- 2.New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (2026). Practice Information for Nurse Practitioners. NYSED Office of the Professions (op.nysed.gov). link ✓New York's 3,600-hour threshold for independent practice, the requirement that an NP at or below it enter a written practice agreement with another collaborating physician, and the invalidity of the agreement when the collaborating physician dies.
- 3.California Board of Registered Nursing (2026). Assembly Bill 890 — Nurse Practitioners: Scope of Practice: Practice Without Standardized Procedures (program page and frequently asked questions). California Board of Registered Nursing (rn.ca.gov). link ✓California's 104 NP working independently within the population focus of national certification, and that an employer may still require a 103 NP to practice under standardized procedures.
- 4.Ohio General Assembly (2026). Section 4723.431 | Standard care arrangements.. Ohio Revised Code (codes.ohio.gov). link ✓Ohio's statutory condition that an APRN may practice only in accordance with a standard care arrangement entered into with each collaborating physician or podiatrist.
- 5.Ohio Board of Nursing (2026). Rule 4723-8-04 | Standard care arrangement for a certified nurse-midwife, certified nurse practitioner, and clinical nurse specialist.. Ohio Administrative Code (codes.ohio.gov). link ✓Ohio's revision route for adding or deleting a collaborating physician within the same employment setting, the required absence-coverage plan, the thirty-day board notification of a change in a collaborating physician's name and business address, and the three-year retention of superseded arrangements.
- 6.U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, Diversion Control Division (2026). Registration Q&A (Questions & Answers — Registration). DEA Diversion Control Division. linkThe DEA statement that its authority to register practitioners to dispense controlled substances is contingent, in part, on the applicant's state authorization, and its silence on any timeline once that authority lapses.
- 7.Drug Enforcement Administration, Department of Justice (2024). § 1306.04 Purpose of issue of prescription.. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 21, Vol. 9 (govinfo, revised as of April 1, 2024). link ✓Where responsibility for a controlled-substance prescription sits: on the prescribing practitioner, with a corresponding responsibility on the dispensing pharmacist.
- 8.Georgia Composite Medical Board (2026). APRN Protocol Registration. Georgia Composite Medical Board (medicalboard.georgia.gov). link ✓Georgia's rule that only a delegating physician may submit a protocol agreement online, the absence of any change-of-physician option, the $150 non-refundable fee, and the board's stated average processing time.
- 9.Pennsylvania Department of State, Bureau of Professional and Occupational Affairs, State Board of Nursing (2026). Application Information (State Board of Nursing). Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of State. link ✓The existence of Pennsylvania's separate termination filing for a CRNP prescriptive-authority collaborative agreement alongside the initial and change applications.
https://www.gale.care/for-providers/pq-collaborator-quit-died-what-happens-next · 9 sources. Competitor details are cited to dated public sources and maintained as they change; figures are estimates, not commitments. Synthetic demonstration.