02-380 C.M.R. ch. 1, § 3 - Collaborative Practice Agreement Content

A collaborative practice agreement may authorize collaborative drug therapy management only for qualifying conditions. A collaborative practice agreement must:

1. Require that activity in the initial 3 months of a collaborative practice agreement be limited to monitoring drug therapy, after which, the nurse practitioner and pharmacist shall meet to review the collaborative practice agreement and determine the scope of the agreement, which, only after this meeting, may be expanded to include a pharmacist's initiating, monitoring, modifying, and discontinuing a patient's drug therapy, which actions the pharmacist must report to the nurse practitioner in a timely manner;

2. Identify the parties to the agreement and their dates of execution of the agreement, and specify the effective date and expiration date of the agreement;

3. Permit either party to cancel the collaborative practice agreement by written notification;

4. Specify the site and setting at which the collaborative practice will occur;

5. Specify the qualifications of the participants in the collaborative practice agreement;

6. Describe in detail the types of diseases, drugs or drug categories involved and collaborative drug therapy management allowed in each patient's case;

7. Include a procedure for the referral of each patient to the practitioner that expressly states:

A. No party to the collaborative practice agreement may receive remuneration of any kind for a referral made pursuant to the agreement; and

B. The nurse practitioner is under no obligation to refer patients to the contracting pharmacist;

8. Include a plan for measuring and assessing patient outcomes;

9. Require that all parties to the agreement maintain professional liability insurance covering the scope of the collaborative practice, which proof of insurance shall be attached to the agreement;

10. Include the treatment protocol(s) that will be utilized under the agreement;

11. Contain a provision that states that the agreement will terminate immediately in the event that the pharmacist no longer holds an unrestricted pharmacist license and immediately when the pharmacist knows or should know that the nurse practitioner no longer holds an unrestricted license;

12. Contain a provision that states that the agreement will terminate upon the death of a party to the agreement; and

13. Specify how the continuity of care for patients will be handled in the event that the agreement suddenly terminates.

Subsections 1 - 9 above are the minimum requirements set forth in 32 MRS §13843(5) and (6).

Notes

02-380 C.M.R. ch. 1, § 3