PMHNP · West Virginia
Supervision Agreement for Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners in West Virginia
Yes, a written supervising-physician agreement is required. West Virginia does not name a specific instrument.
West Virginia's Board of Nursing materials describe the collaborative-agreement/3-year pathway as applying uniformly across APRN roles (CNP, CRNA, CNM, CNS) — no PMHNP-specific carve-out was found; see the general `np` entry.
Independent practice requires: for prescribing specifically: ≥3 years in a documented collaborative relationship with granted prescriptive authority, then Board of Nursing approval.
What the supervision must look like
The rules the physician relationship has to follow. Each fact comes from the statute or board rule listed under sources.
Proximity
below the 3-year independent-prescriptive-authority threshold: Available remotely (no on-site requirement)
Same standard as general NPs — no codified mile/minute radius.
Supervision ratio
Not codified — no cap on file
Chart review
Not codified — left to the agreement
Meeting cadence
Not codified — left to the agreement
Prescriptive authority
below the 3-year independent-prescriptive-authority threshold: Separate prescribing terms required · controlled substances permitted
No PMHNP-specific schedule restriction found — psychiatric prescribing in practice skews toward Schedule II stimulants and Schedule IV benzodiazepines/hypnotics more heavily than general NP practice, reflected in calculatorWeights rather than a different legal limit.
Written agreement
Required
Required for prescriptive authority, not for diagnosis/treatment — same structure as general NPs.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Same open item as the general `np` entry — an independent APRN entity-ownership pathway analogous to other states' PLLC statutes was not confirmed for West Virginia.
Legal sources for these rules (1)
What a supervising physician costs here
Typical monthly cost in West Virginia
$500 – $650
Estimate for one Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner. Standard-tier state.
About West Virginia's rules
code.wvlegislature.gov would not serve statute text during this research pass (anomalous redirect, not followed) — sourcing below leans on WV Board of Nursing/Medicine/Pharmacy materials and secondary sources; confidence is lower than for states with direct statute access. SB 956 (2026), which would let PAs own practices and end mandatory collaboration, had NOT confirmed final passage/signature as of this research pass — treat PA entries below as the current, not the pending, law.
Other clinicians in West Virginia: see the state overview.