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

AANP's May 2026 map puts Washington, DC in its full practice tier; the label is AANP's advocacy classification, and the statute behind it is § 3-1206.01(a), which authorizes the advanced practice registered nurse to perform actions of medical diagnosis, treatment, prescription and recommendation.

The grant's reach has three limbs: functions the subchapter authorizes, any rules promulgated pursuant to the subchapter, and Chapter 16B of Title 7 (Use of Marijuana for Medical Treatment).

The rules limb matters here: 17 DCMR was not read, so this page describes the statute layer only.

Within it, the sections headed Requirements of protocols and Collaboration are repealed, and no section of the four read requires a physician's sign-off.

None found: the four sections read contain no hours, months or years threshold and no intermediate status between licensure and the general authorization.

The sections headed Requirements of protocols and Collaboration are repealed, and none of the four sections read sets a supervised first phase.

Two things this page cannot settle: the rules limb of § 3-1206.01(a) — 17 DCMR, not read — could hold a rule-level condition, and the licensure route itself (education, national certification, application) sits outside the four sections read.

As far as the statute read goes, a new graduate and a PMHNP with twenty years in practice hold the same authorization.

The statute read requires no agreement: § 3-1206.02, Requirements of protocols, was repealed by D.C. Law 10-247 (1995), and § 3-1206.03, Collaboration, is stamped [Repealed] on the current code page, which does not name the law that repealed it.

Of the four sections read, what remains in force is the general authorization and the authorized-acts list — no ratio, meeting frequency, chart review or filing requirement appears in the four sections read.

Two cautions belong next to that: the rules § 3-1206.01(a) incorporates, 17 DCMR, were not read, and any oversight an employer adds is a term of employment, not a state-mandated agreement in the statute read.

Section 3-1206.04(1) authorizes the APRN to initiate, monitor and alter drug therapies, and no schedule-level limit appears in the statute read.

That is not a clean bill of health: the schedule-specific prescribing rules sit in 17 DCMR chapter 59, which the research could not locate or read, and a DC controlled-substance registration for APRNs was not located either.

This page therefore leaves both Schedule II and Schedules III–V as not stated in the sources read and cannot say whether an outpatient PMHNP may prescribe Schedule II ADHD stimulants.

Read 17 DCMR chapter 59 and confirm with the Board of Nursing before relying on the absence of a limit.

The authorized-acts list runs a whole psychiatric practice: initiating, monitoring and altering drug therapies; initiating and referring therapies or treatments; additional functions within the APRN's specialty as determined under rules and regulations the Mayor promulgates — a second rules limb this page cannot verify — and signing, certifying, stamping or endorsing documents that require a physician's signature, in place of a physician, provided it is within the scope of their authorized practice.

That proviso is the statute's own limit on the signature authority.

Federally, the DEA registers the PMHNP as a mid-level practitioner (21 CFR 1300.01), a registration covering only what DC allows, and the DEA/HHS telemedicine flexibilities, extended through December 31, 2026, lift no DC rule.

DC has not enacted the APRN Compact: it is not among the five jurisdictions that had as of September 2026 (Delaware, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming), and the compact takes effect only at seven enactments, so no APRN holds a multistate APRN licence today.

Even once seven enact, the compact texts read condition a multistate licence on at least 2,080 hours of APRN practice.

The Nurse Licensure Compact is an RN compact and gives no nurse practitioner authority in another jurisdiction: a PMHNP moving to DC needs the DC license.

The research pass located no 2023–2026 amendment to §§ 3-1206.01–.04.

The most recent structural change the sources read record is old: the 1995 repeal of § 3-1206.02 by D.C. Law 10-247.

The four code pages carry the stamp Current through Sept.

5, 2026, with Law 26-177 (effective Sept.

5, 2026) the last codified law — a currency marker for the whole code, not evidence of a change to this subchapter.

What the page cannot see is 17 DCMR, which was not read; check the Board of Nursing before assuming the rule layer is as quiet as the statute layer.

This page rests on the four statute sections the research read and is explicit about what it cannot see.

Not read: 17 DCMR, the rules the general authorization incorporates, including chapter 59's schedule-specific prescribing rules.

Not located: any DC controlled-substance registration for APRNs.

Not read here: the licensure route itself — education, national certification and application rules, which sit elsewhere in the code and the board's rules.

The gaps are why Schedule II and Schedules III–V read not stated above; they are findings about the sources, not findings that no rules exist.

Confirm the current rules with the DC Board of Nursing.