Twenty-eight states and the District of Columbia grant nurse practitioners (NPs) full practice authority, allowing them to practice and prescribe without formal physician supervision. California requires that nurse practitioners have a written collaboration agreement with a physician and is the only western state to have a requirement for physician oversight. There has been an accelerating trend toward removal of state-level restrictions on nurse practitioner practice and oversight requirement, with no states introducing new oversight or collaboration requirements in the past decade.

CHCF hosted a briefing on May 6, 2019, with experts from Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico on what California can learn from other states that have expanded practice authority for nurse practitioners.