PMHNP Practice Authority in Maine: Independence, Physician Agreements and Schedule II

AANP's May 2026 map puts Maine in its full practice tier, and AANP's November 2025 snapshot lists Maine among the full-practice states with a time-in-practice requirement.

Both are AANP's advocacy classifications; the legal fact sits in 32 M.R.S. § 2102(2-A), which authorizes a certified nurse practitioner who qualifies as an APRN to prescribe and dispense drugs or devices, or both, in accordance with rules adopted by the board.

Full does not mean unsupervised from day one: the same subsection carries the 24-month condition covered below.

For a job-seeking PMHNP, the practical reading is that Maine independence is a milestone on the far side of the transition requirement — written evidence due to the board on completion — not a status that applies at the first job.

The statute names three routes: at least 24 months under the supervision of a licensed physician or a supervising nurse practitioner, or employment by a clinic or hospital that has a medical director who is a licensed physician.

As written, the 24 months attaches to the supervision limb; the employment clause carries no duration of its own, and the board's rules, which were not read, would settle how the employment route is timed.

The paperwork the statute sets: the nurse practitioner shall submit written evidence to the board upon completion of the required clinical experience.

The sources read name no certificate or registration issued at the end, and they do not say whether the condition ends on completion of the experience or on filing the evidence.

A new graduate's first Maine job therefore has to fit a route the statute names; there is no fourth option in the text read, and the research records no rule crediting practice started elsewhere.

Past the transition the research records none: the subsection names no continuing physician agreement, and the board's rules — which could add one — were not read.

During the transition, the supervising role belongs to a licensed physician, to a supervising nurse practitioner, or to an employer clinic or hospital with a physician medical director.

A supervising nurse practitioner is not just any experienced colleague: § 2102(10) requires a nurse practitioner who has completed 24 months of supervised practice, has practiced as an APRN for a minimum of 5 years in the same speciality, has worked in a clinical health care field for a minimum of 10 years, and has been approved by the board.

An APRN choosing a supervising nurse practitioner should therefore confirm the board approval, not just the years.

Ratios, chart review and meeting frequency during the transition: not located in the sources read, because the board's rules were not read.

The statute's only prescribing condition is that it happen in accordance with rules adopted by the board.

The research records no Schedule II limit located, and no separate state controlled-substance registration located.

Read together, an outpatient Maine PMHNP can prescribe Schedule II ADHD stimulants so far as the sources read show: there is no statute-level bar in § 2102(2-A) as read.

The hedge belongs next to the answer, because the operative rules live in the Board of Nursing's chapter 8 rules, which were not among the sources read — confirm the current rules with the board before relying on it.

Maine defines advanced practice registered nursing through board rulemaking: the delivery of expanded professional health care within a scope of practice the board specifies and under standards of practice the board adopts, in each case taking into consideration national standards, and including consultation with or referral to medical and other health care providers when required by client health care needs.

The board, not the statute, is where the operational detail lives — and its chapter 8 rules were not read.

Federally, the PMHNP registers with the DEA as a mid-level practitioner, and that registration covers only what Maine allows.

The DEA and HHS telemedicine flexibilities, extended through December 31, 2026, remove the federal in-person requirement without lifting any Maine condition, including the 24-month rule.

Maine has not enacted the APRN Compact.

The compact takes effect only once seven states enact it, and as of September 2026 five had (Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming), so no APRN holds a multistate APRN licence today.

The Nurse Licensure Compact is an RN compact and gives no nurse practitioner authority in another state.

To practise as a PMHNP in Maine you need Maine APRN licensure and, while the § 2102(2-A) requirement runs, practice that fits a route it names.

The latest amendment to § 2102 that the sources read record is PL 2023, c.

592, which the research section credits with amending § 2102(2) and adding subsection 11 defining unlicensed assistive personnel; the saved text begins at subsection 2-A, so the subsection-2 amendment rests on the research alone.

It did not touch the APRN 24-month rule, which the saved text shows was last amended by PL 2007, c.

316.

The board's chapter 8 rules were not read, so a rule-level change would not appear on this page.

Check the board's rules before assuming the prescribing framework is unchanged.