PMHNP Practice Authority in Michigan: Independence, Physician Agreements and Schedule II
Michigan licenses psychiatric nurse practitioners as APRNs through the Board of Nursing, and AANP classes the state as restricted.
The statute splits prescribing in two: a nonscheduled prescription drug is within the APRN's own authority, while every schedule 2 to 5 controlled substance is a delegated act of a physician, with both names and both DEA registration numbers required in connection with the prescription.
There is no hours-or-years route out of the delegation, and the written authorization is reviewed annually.
Verify before you rely on this
At a glance
Advanced practice registered nurse (APRN), the prescribing statute's term (MCL 333.17211a).
The delegation rule works from specialty certification under MCL 333.17210, naming the nurse practitioner, nurse midwife and clinical nurse specialist and excepting the nurse anesthetist (R 338.2411(1)).
The Michigan Board of Nursing, within the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (LARA).
Restricted, per AANP's State Practice Environment map (updated 05/2026).
AANP's label, not a legal category.
None: there is no hours-or-years route to independent controlled-substance prescribing.
The physician delegation is career-long.
A written authorization from the delegating physician for controlled-substance prescribing: both parties' names, license numbers and signatures, the delegation's limitations or exceptions, and an effective date, reviewed and updated annually.
No ratio or chart-review requirement was located in the sources read.
Prescribable, including ADHD stimulants in outpatient practice, only as a delegated act of a physician, with both the APRN's and the physician's names and DEA registration numbers required in connection with the prescription (MCL 333.17211a(2)).
The physician may authorize multiple prescriptions totaling up to a 90-day supply.
Delegated acts under the same written authorization.
The rule text read sets no day-supply cap for schedules 3 to 5.
Not enacted in Michigan.
The compact is not in effect anywhere: it needs seven states and five had enacted it as of September 2026.
The Michigan credential ladder
- Advanced practice registered nurse (psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner)(APRN)Other
The Michigan credential a PMHNP practises under: the prescribing statute's term is advanced practice registered nurse (MCL 333.17211a).
A nonscheduled prescription drug is within this authority alone (MCL 333.17211a(1)(a)).
- APRN with a delegating physician's written authorizationOther
The controlled-substance status for the whole career: schedules 2 to 5 may be prescribed only as a delegated act of a physician, under a written authorization that names both parties and is reviewed annually (MCL 333.17211a(1)(b); R 338.2411).
Restricted: nonscheduled drugs under the APRN's own authority, controlled substances by delegation
AANP's May 2026 map puts Michigan in its restricted tier.
The label is AANP's advocacy classification; the legal fact behind it is the statute's two-track structure.
Nonscheduled prescription drugs sit within the APRN's own prescriptive authority.
Every controlled substance in schedules 2 to 5 of part 72 is different: the statute lets the APRN prescribe it only as a delegated act of a physician.
For a new graduate that means the physician relationship has to exist in writing before the first controlled-substance prescription, while non-controlled psychiatric medications do not wait on it.
For what AANP’s full, reduced and restricted tiers mean, see can a PMHNP practice independently?
“An advanced practice registered nurse may prescribe any of the following: (a) A nonscheduled prescription drug. (b) Subject to subsection (2), a controlled substance included in schedules 2 to 5 of part 72, as a delegated act of a physician.”
No transition-to-practice route
Michigan has no hours or years threshold after which a PMHNP stops needing a delegating physician for controlled substances.
The delegation is a career-long structure, so a brand-new graduate and a PMHNP with twenty years in psychiatric practice stand in the same place.
If you are comparing a Michigan offer with one in another state, price the delegation as a permanent feature of practice, not a start-up phase that ends.
The written authorization: what it must contain and who keeps it
The delegating physician establishes a written authorization with four required elements: the physician's name, license number and signature; the nurse practitioner's, nurse midwife's or clinical nurse specialist's name, license number and signature; the limitations or exceptions to the delegation; and the effective date.
The physician must review and update it annually and note the review date on it, maintain the written authorization at the physician's primary place of practice, and provide the nurse practitioner with a copy of the signed authorization.
The limitations clause is the one to read before signing: it is where the scope of your controlled-substance prescribing actually gets set.
The rule is physician-specific, so the delegation runs to the physician named in it.
A ratio, chart-review or proximity requirement was not located in the sources read.
For who signs these agreements and what they cost, see PMHNP collaborative practice agreements.
“The delegating physician shall review and update a written authorization on an annual basis after the original date or the date of amendment, if amended. The delegating physician shall note the review date on the written authorization.”
Both names and both DEA numbers in connection with every controlled prescription; schedule 2 up to 90 days if authorized
Any schedule 2 to 5 prescription a Michigan PMHNP writes must have both the APRN's name and the physician's name, and both DEA registration numbers, used, recorded, or otherwise indicated in connection with it — the statute's own wording (MCL 333.17211a(2)).
Schedule 2 is delegable, which means an outpatient PMHNP can prescribe ADHD stimulants, inside the written authorization's limitations.
The delegating physician may also authorize multiple prescriptions letting the patient receive up to a 90-day total supply of a schedule 2 drug; without that authorization the rule text read states no day-supply figure, and it sets none for schedules 3 to 5 either.
Whether Michigan requires a separate state controlled-substance license beyond DEA registration was not covered by the sources read; confirm with LARA.
For the federal DEA rules on prescribing controlled substances by telehealth, see prescribing controlled substances by telehealth.
“A delegating physician may authorize a nurse practitioner, a nurse midwife, or a clinical nurse specialist to issue multiple prescriptions allowing the patient to receive a total of up to a 90-day supply of a schedule 2 controlled substance.”
The DEA registration and telehealth do not widen the delegation
A PMHNP registers with the DEA as a mid-level practitioner, and that registration covers only what the state lets the NP prescribe.
A DEA form that lists Schedules II to V does not override Michigan's delegation requirement.
The same holds for telehealth: the DEA and HHS telemedicine flexibilities, extended through December 31, 2026, let registered practitioners prescribe remotely without an in-person visit, but a controlled-substance prescription issued to a Michigan patient is still a delegated act, and the statute's requirement that both names and both DEA registration numbers be used, recorded, or otherwise indicated in connection with the prescription still applies.
For how an FNP moves into psychiatric practice, see FNP to PMHNP.
APRN Compact: not in Michigan, and not in effect anywhere
Michigan 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 Michigan you need Michigan licensure as an advanced practice registered nurse, and a delegating physician's written authorization before prescribing controlled substances.
The delegation rule was amended effective March 19, 2024
The delegation rule R 338.2411 carries amendment notes for 2023 AACS and 2024 MR 6, effective March 19, 2024; the research file records the former R 338.2305 as rescinded, so 338.2411 is the rule to read.
The statute underneath it has been stable: MCL 333.17211a was added by 2016 PA 499 and took effect April 9, 2017.
The sources read do not cover any pending 2025–2026 Michigan legislation, so check the Michigan Legislature before assuming the rules are unchanged.
What This Page Does — and Doesn’t — Cover
This page summarizes the Michigan statute, rules, board pages and other documents cited above, as read for this state-by-state PMHNP practice authority series, current as of September 2026.
It does not list application forms, fees beyond those cited above, or processing times, and it is not a substitute for the instructions the Michigan Board of Nursing publishes.
Hour totals, exams and supervision rules change by statute and by board rule; for how the PMHNP and psychiatrist roles compare, see PMHNP vs psychiatrist.
Confirm every requirement with the Michigan Board of Nursing before you count hours, register for an exam or apply — and before you take one of the psychiatric nurse practitioner jobs in Michigan that asks for it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a PMHNP practice independently in Michigan?
Partly.
A nonscheduled prescription drug is within the APRN's own authority, so prescribing non-controlled psychiatric medications is not a delegated act.
Every schedule 2 to 5 controlled substance, though, is a delegated act of a physician for the whole career, with no hours-or-years route out.
AANP classes Michigan as restricted.
Confirm current requirements with the Michigan Board of Nursing.
Can a psychiatric nurse practitioner prescribe ADHD stimulants in Michigan?
Yes, in outpatient practice, as a delegated act.
Schedule 2 is within the schedules 2 to 5 a physician may delegate, and the statute requires both the APRN's name and the physician's name, and both DEA registration numbers, to be used, recorded, or otherwise indicated in connection with the prescription.
The delegating physician may also authorize multiple prescriptions totaling up to a 90-day supply.
Check your written authorization's limitations clause, since that is where the delegation's exceptions live.
What has to be in the physician's written authorization?
The delegating physician's name, license number and signature; the nurse practitioner's, nurse midwife's or clinical nurse specialist's name, license number and signature; the limitations or exceptions to the delegation; and the effective date.
The physician reviews and updates it annually, notes the review date, maintains it at their primary place of practice and gives you a copy of the signed authorization.
How many nurse practitioners can one Michigan physician delegate to?
The sources read locate no numeric cap on how many APRNs a physician may delegate to.
What the rule requires is a written authorization naming that physician, with the delegation's limitations and an annual review, kept at the physician's primary place of practice.
Ask any prospective delegating physician how they structure this, and confirm with LARA.
Does the DEA telehealth rule let a Michigan PMHNP prescribe controlled substances remotely?
The DEA and HHS telemedicine flexibilities, extended through December 31, 2026, remove the federal in-person evaluation requirement for Schedules II to V.
They do not lift state law.
A controlled-substance prescription to a Michigan patient remains a delegated act of a physician, and both names and both DEA registration numbers must still be used, recorded, or otherwise indicated in connection with the prescription.
More Michigan & Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Resources
Sources
- MCL 333.17211a, Advanced practice registered nurse; authority to prescribe nonscheduled prescription drug or controlled substance (Michigan Legislature) (retrieved 2026-09-24)
- Mich. Admin. Code R 338.2411, Delegation of the prescription of controlled substances (Cornell LII) (retrieved 2026-09-24)
- AANP, State Practice Environment (updated 05/2026) (retrieved 2026-09-24)
- DEA/HHS, Fourth Temporary Extension of COVID-19 Telemedicine Flexibilities (90 FR 61301) (retrieved 2026-09-24)
Sourced from the statute, rules, board pages and other documents cited above.
Verified September 2026.
This is career information, not legal or clinical advice — confirm current rules with the Michigan Board of Nursing.