A summary of Georgia’s collaboration, agreement, filing, supervision, prescribing, and specialty rules for PAs and the physicians who collaborate with them.
Collaborating Physician Required? Yes
Physician Involvement: Standard
Agreement Name: Job description
On-Site Requirements: None
Chart Review: No fixed count
Controlled Substances: Allowed when delegated in the job description. Schedule II is prohibited except a narrow emergency exception for hydrocodone or oxycodone (PA with at least one year of experience, up to a 5-day supply, patient 18+).
Reduced Supervision / Transition Requirements: None
Georgia PA Collaboration Requirements Summary
Georgia requires every PA to work under a supervising physician and a board-approved job description, and there is no independent PA practice. Physician involvement is standard in most settings, but it rises when the PA prescribes controlled substances, where the physician must evaluate those patients more closely. The supervising physician must be available for immediate consultation, though routine on-site presence is not required, and PAs cannot practice independently. This page covers Georgia’s rules on supervision, the collaborative agreement, board filing, ongoing compliance, prescribing, and specialty and telehealth requirements.
Source: Ga. Code § 43-34-103
Type of Collaborative Relationship
Georgia requires PAs to practice under a supervising physician who delegates medical acts through a board-approved job description, and physician involvement is standard. There is no route to independent practice and no hours-based path to reduced supervision. The supervising physician must remain available for immediate consultation and stays responsible for the delegated medical acts.
Source: Ga. Code § 43-34-103(b)
What is a PA’s scope of practice in Georgia?
A PA’s scope of practice is set by the board-approved job description, which delegates specific medical acts and confines them to the supervising physician’s own scope of practice. The PA performs those acts under the physician’s supervision.
Do PAs need a collaborating physician in Georgia?
Yes. Every PA in Georgia must practice under a primary supervising physician with a board-approved job description; there is no independent practice.
Can PAs practice independently in Georgia?
No. Georgia requires a supervising physician and an approved job description at all times; there is no independent practice option for PAs.
How many PAs can a physician collaborate with in Georgia?
A physician may supervise up to the combined equivalent of eight PAs and advanced practice nurses at one time. Certain settings — including hospitals, public health agencies, and free clinics — are exempt from that cap.
Who can be a collaborating physician in Georgia?
A supervising physician must be licensed to practice medicine and surgery in Georgia.
Are there proximity or in-person requirements in Georgia?
No. Georgia sets no on-site, proximity, geographic, or travel requirement, but the supervising physician must be available for immediate consultation by phone or other telecommunication.
Collaboration Agreement Requirements
Georgia’s written agreement is a job description, and the state provides a template. It must be signed by the primary supervising physician and the PA, and it delegates the PA’s medical acts, describes both providers’ backgrounds, requires availability for immediate consultation, and lists any delegated prescribing authority. Georgia also requires the physician to designate back-up physicians to the board.
Source: Ga. Code § 43-34-102(4)
What must be included in a PA collaborative agreement in Georgia?
The job description must give a general description of how the PA will be used, confine the PA’s medical acts to the supervising physician’s scope of practice, describe the physician’s background and specialty and the PA’s qualifications, require availability for immediate consultation, and state any delegated prescribing authority.
What is the collaborative agreement called in Georgia?
It is called a job description.
Who has to sign the collaborative agreement in Georgia?
Both the primary supervising physician and the PA must sign it.
How often must the agreement be reviewed or renewed in Georgia?
Georgia sets no fixed review or renewal schedule for the job description itself. However, if the delegated duties change — for example, adding prescribing authority — an amended job description must be submitted to and approved by the board.
Is a backup physician required in Georgia?
Yes. The primary supervising physician must designate, in writing to the board, the alternate (back-up) physicians who may supervise the PA.
Board Filing Requirements
Georgia requires the job description to be submitted to and approved by the board before a PA provides patient services. Approval can be automatic in some cases — for example, when the physician uses the state template and it is signed by all supervising and back-up physicians and paid for, or when a substantially similar job description was already approved. Amendments must also be filed.
Source: Ga. Code § 43-34-103(c)
Do you have to file the collaborative agreement with the board in Georgia?
Yes. The primary supervising physician must submit the job description to the board, and the PA must have a board-approved job description at all times while providing patient services.
Can a PA start practicing as soon as they file in Georgia?
Not automatically in every case — board approval is required first. Approval is automatic in some situations, though: when the physician uses the state template and it is signed by all supervising and back-up physicians and paid for, or when a substantially similar job description has already been approved.
What are the termination and notice requirements in Georgia?
Georgia has no formal termination-notice rule. Because collaborations are tracked in the Board of Medicine’s online portal, though, a termination should be submitted to keep records accurate.
Collaboration Compliance
Once the job description is approved, Georgia requires the supervising physician to be available for immediate consultation and to periodically review patient records; it sets no meeting cadence or co-signature rule. Oversight tightens for controlled substances: the physician must evaluate or examine every patient receiving a controlled substance at least every three months.
Source: Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 360-5-.12
How many charts must a collaborating physician review in Georgia?
There is no fixed chart count for general practice; the supervising physician periodically reviews a sample of records. For patients receiving controlled substances, the physician must evaluate or examine each of them at least every three months, which in practice is met through review of those patients’ charts.
How often must a PA and collaborating physician meet in Georgia?
Georgia sets no required meeting cadence. The supervising physician must, however, remain available for immediate consultation.
How long must collaboration records be kept in Georgia?
Georgia sets no specific retention requirement for collaboration records.
Prescribing Rules
PAs in Georgia may prescribe drugs and devices when the authority is delegated in the board-approved job description, but controlled-substance authority is tightly limited. Schedule II drugs are prohibited except for a narrow emergency exception covering hydrocodone or oxycodone.
Source: Ga. Code § 43-34-103(e.1)
Can a PA prescribe controlled substances in Georgia?
Yes, when the job description delegates that authority, but with tight limits on Schedule II. A PA who prescribes controlled substances triggers closer physician oversight, including the requirement that the physician evaluate those patients at least every three months.
Can a PA prescribe Schedule II drugs in Georgia?
Generally no. Schedule II drugs are prohibited except in a narrow emergency situation: a PA with at least one year of experience and in good standing may issue an initial order for hydrocodone or oxycodone (up to a 5-day supply) for a patient 18 or older, if the job description specifically authorizes it and the PA has directly evaluated the patient.
What schedule drugs can a PA prescribe in Georgia?
PAs may prescribe non-controlled drugs and delegated controlled substances, except that Schedule II is prohibited apart from the narrow hydrocodone or oxycodone emergency exception described above. Any controlled-substance authority must be delegated in the job description.
Does a PA need a DEA license in Georgia?
Georgia does not require a separate state-level controlled-substance registration for PAs. A PA still needs a federal DEA registration to prescribe controlled substances, but Georgia does not add its own state registration on top of it.
Can a PA prescribe independently (without physician sign-off) in Georgia?
No. A PA may prescribe only what the supervising physician has delegated in the job description, and the physician remains responsible for those prescribing acts, so prescribing is not independent.
Specialty & Telehealth Requirements
Georgia sets no telehealth-specific requirement for PAs in its master rules, but it does have a specialty rule for anesthesiologist assistants, who carry a tighter supervision ratio than general PAs. Standard supervision, job-description, and prescribing rules apply otherwise.
Source: Ga. Code § 43-34-103(b)(3)
Are there telehealth or telemedicine requirements for PAs in Georgia?
No, Georgia sets no specific telehealth or telemedicine requirement for PAs.
Are there specialty-specific requirements for PAs in Georgia?
Yes. Anesthesiologist assistants carry a tighter limit: a physician may supervise no more than four of them at a time, versus the general eight-provider cap.
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