A summary of Kansas’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: Written agreement
On-Site Requirements: Yes
Chart Review: 100% during the first 30 days of the relationship, reviewed and authenticated within seven days of each patient encounter. After 30 days, no fixed count — documented periodic review and evaluation, which may include patient records.
Controlled Substances: Allowed as listed in the written agreement, and never beyond the supervising physician’s own normal and customary prescribing practice. Schedule II is limited to emergency oral or telephone authorization with a written prescription to follow within seven days.
Reduced Supervision / Transition Requirements: 80 hours under direct supervision by a Kansas-licensed physician since licensure, which unlocks practice at a different practice location.
Kansas PA Collaboration Requirements Summary
Kansas requires every PA to have a supervising physician who accepts responsibility for the PA’s medical services and actions. The relationship runs on a written agreement that is filed with the board as part of the active practice request form, so this is a filing state — and amendments have to go back to the board within 10 days. Oversight is heaviest at the start: for the first 30 days the physician must review and authenticate every patient record within seven days, after which the requirement shifts to documented periodic review plus at least an annual written evaluation. Kansas also gates where a PA can work, requiring 80 hours of direct, physically present supervision before a PA practices at a site the physician rarely visits. This page covers Kansas’s rules on the supervising relationship, the written agreement, board filing, ongoing compliance, prescribing, and specialty and telehealth requirements.
Source: K.S.A. 65-28a02(5)
Type of Collaborative Relationship
Kansas requires a supervising physician who accepts responsibility for the medical services and actions of the PA. Physician involvement is standard overall but high for the first 30 days of each new relationship, when every patient record must be reviewed and authenticated. Kansas has no path to independent practice; its one experience threshold is 80 hours of direct supervision, which lets a PA work at a location the supervising physician is rarely present at rather than reducing oversight itself.
Source: K.A.R. 100-28a-14(a)
What is a PA’s scope of practice in Kansas?
A PA’s scope in Kansas is set by the written agreement, which lists the medical services and procedures the PA may perform at each practice location and any services the PA is prohibited from performing. Everything the PA is authorized to do must fall within the clinical competence and customary practice of the supervising physician and every substitute supervising physician.
Do PAs need a collaborating physician in Kansas?
Yes. Every PA must have a supervising physician who has accepted responsibility for the PA’s medical services and actions, and that physician must be identified to the board.
Can PAs practice independently in Kansas?
No. Kansas sets no hour count or experience threshold that leads to independent practice, and the supervising physician retains responsibility throughout the relationship.
How many PAs can a physician collaborate with in Kansas?
For PAs at a different practice location, three — or up to five with prior board approval, and never more than five. Board approval requires the physician to verify that the combined weekly hours of those PAs will not exceed 200 and to show they can adequately supervise each one. Kansas sets no fixed cap for PAs working at the same location as the physician; there, the physician determines the number using professional judgment.
Who can be a collaborating physician in Kansas?
A physician who engages in the practice of medicine and surgery in Kansas, and whose clinical competence and customary practice cover the services the PA is authorized to perform. The same standard applies to every substitute supervising physician named for the PA.
Are there proximity or in-person requirements in Kansas?
Yes. Before providing services at a different practice location, a PA must have spent at least 80 hours since licensure under direct supervision, meaning the physician was physically present at the site of care and able to immediately take over. A different practice location is one where the supervising physician is physically present less than 20% of the time that the location treats patients; medical care facilities are excluded. At all times, the supervising or a substitute physician must be available for communication whenever the PA could reasonably be expected to provide services.
Collaboration Agreement Requirements
Kansas’s written agreement is called a written agreement, and it is submitted to the board as part of the active practice request form. It must spell out what the PA may and may not do at each practice location, what supervision applies to specific services, what the PA may prescribe and any exceptions to that authority, how the PA and physician will communicate when the PA is at a different location, and how a substitute physician gets notified when the supervising physician is unavailable. The PA, the supervising physician, and every substitute supervising physician sign and date it. A current copy must be kept at each practice location, and the physician must review it at least annually.
Source: K.A.R. 100-28a-9(e)
What must be included in a PA collaborative agreement in Kansas?
Seven things: the medical services and procedures the PA may perform at each practice location, a list of services the PA is prohibited from performing, any supervision types required for specified services, the prescription-only drugs the PA may prescribe, administer, dispense, or distribute (including controlled substances and professional samples), any specific exceptions to that prescribing authority, a communication procedure for when the PA is at a different practice location, and a procedure for notifying a substitute supervising physician when the supervising physician is unavailable. Kansas does not provide a state template.
What is the collaborative agreement called in Kansas?
It is called a written agreement. It is filed as one component of the active practice request form each PA submits to the board.
Who has to sign the collaborative agreement in Kansas?
The PA, the supervising physician, and all substitute supervising physicians, with dated signatures.
How often must the agreement be reviewed or renewed in Kansas?
At least annually. The supervising physician must review the active practice request form each year and determine whether amendments are needed; any amendment must be conveyed to the PA, reflected in all copies of the form, and provided to the board within 10 days of being made.
Is a backup physician required in Kansas?
Yes. The active practice request form must name each substitute supervising physician who will supervise the PA at each practice location when the supervising physician is temporarily unavailable, and the written agreement must describe how that substitute gets notified.
Board Filing Requirements
Kansas requires the written agreement to be filed with the board as part of the PA’s active practice request form. The board also provides forms for identifying each supervising physician and for giving notice that supervision has ended. Any amendment to the active practice request form must reach the board within 10 days, and a current copy must be kept at each practice location.
Source: K.S.A. 65-28a09(b)
Do you have to file the collaborative agreement with the board in Kansas?
Yes. The written agreement is submitted as part of the active practice request form, and the board separately requires notification identifying each supervising physician. Amendments must be provided to the board within 10 days of being made.
Can a PA start practicing as soon as they file in Kansas?
Kansas’s rules do not state whether a PA may begin practicing immediately on filing or must wait for board action. What is clear is that the active practice request form, including the written agreement, must be submitted, and a current copy kept at each practice location.
What are the termination and notice requirements in Kansas?
Both the supervising physician and the PA must notify the board when supervision and direction of the PA has terminated. The supervising physician must report the termination of responsibility to the board within 10 days of receiving notice of it. Kansas allows no grace period for an unexpected termination.
Collaboration Compliance
Kansas front-loads its compliance obligations. During the first 30 days of a supervising relationship, the physician must review and authenticate the records of every patient the PA evaluates or treats within seven days of the encounter, signing or initialing each record and recording the review date. After that, the requirement becomes documented periodic review and evaluation, which may include patient records, plus at least an annual written evaluation of the PA’s competence, skill, and safety that both parties sign.
Source: K.A.R. 100-28a-10(b)
How many charts must a collaborating physician review in Kansas?
All of them for the first 30 days, then no fixed count. During the first 30 days the physician must review and authenticate every patient record within seven days of the encounter; after 30 days the physician must document periodic review and evaluation of the PA’s performance, which may include review of patient records. There is no separate chart co-signature requirement beyond that initial authentication.
How often must a PA and collaborating physician meet in Kansas?
Kansas sets no required meeting cadence, but the physician must review and evaluate the PA at least annually. That annual evaluation determines whether the PA has performed patient services with professional competence and with reasonable skill and safety. Separately, the supervising or a substitute physician must be available for communication whenever the PA could reasonably be expected to provide services.
How long must collaboration records be kept in Kansas?
Kansas sets no retention period, but requires the records to be kept on site and produced on request. The signed written review and evaluation must be maintained at each practice location and made available to the board, as must a current copy of the active practice request form.
Prescribing Rules
A PA’s prescribing authority in Kansas can never exceed the supervising physician’s own normal and customary prescribing practice, and it must be spelled out in the written agreement. That agreement lists the prescription-only drugs, controlled substances, and professional samples the PA may prescribe, administer, dispense, or distribute, along with any exceptions. Quantity and strength are bounded by the physician’s normal and customary practice, and Schedule II carries a specific emergency-only limit.
Source: K.S.A. 65-28a08(d)(2)
Can a PA prescribe controlled substances in Kansas?
Yes, to the extent the written agreement authorizes it. The agreement must list the controlled substances the PA may prescribe, administer, dispense, or distribute and any exceptions, and the PA’s authority can never exceed the supervising physician’s normal and customary prescribing practice. Kansas adds no heightened supervision requirement specific to controlled substances.
Can a PA prescribe Schedule II drugs in Kansas?
Only in an emergency, and only by oral or telephone authorization. After authorizing an emergency Schedule II prescription, the PA must have a written prescription delivered to the dispenser within seven days.
What schedule drugs can a PA prescribe in Kansas?
Whatever the written agreement authorizes, within the supervising physician’s normal and customary practice, with Schedule II limited to emergency oral or telephone authorization. The PA may not prescribe, administer, distribute, or dispense any prescription-only drug in a quantity or strength beyond what the supervising physician normally and customarily prescribes.
Does a PA need a DEA license in Kansas?
Kansas’s master regulatory data does not address state or federal DEA registration for PAs. What it does require is that every written prescription order include the name, address, and telephone number of the supervising physician.
Can a PA prescribe independently (without physician sign-off) in Kansas?
No. Prescribing authority exists only through the written agreement with the supervising physician, is capped by that physician’s normal and customary practice in both drug selection and quantity and strength, and every written prescription must carry the physician’s name, address, and phone number.
Specialty & Telehealth Requirements
Kansas’s master regulatory data does not address telehealth-specific or specialty-specific requirements for PAs. The standard supervision, agreement, filing, and prescribing rules apply across settings and specialties, including the on-site supervision requirement before a PA works at a different practice location.
Are there telehealth or telemedicine requirements for PAs in Kansas?
Kansas sets no telehealth-specific requirement for PAs in the master regulatory data. Kansas does recognize off-site supervision, where the physician is not physically present but is immediately available by telephone or electronic communication.
Are there specialty-specific requirements for PAs in Kansas?
Kansas sets no specialty-specific requirements for PAs in the master regulatory data. The written agreement may still require particular types of supervision for specified medical services and procedures.
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