Georgia’s Medical Board Redefined “Employee” and Doctors Are Walking Away
The Georgia Composite Medical Board issued a position statement in early May 2026 that reinterprets a 2006 state law, and doctors are already terminating agreements with nurse-run clinics as a result. Under the new guidance, any physician who receives compensation for overseeing a clinic owned or operated by an advanced practice registered nurse (APRN) is classified as an employee of that clinic. Georgia law bars physicians from being employees of clinics owned by APRNs they supervise.
The practical effect is that financial compensation, which has long been the basis for these supervision agreements, is now off the table. Without compensation, there is little incentive for physicians to enter or maintain supervision agreements with APRNs.
Without Supervision Agreements, APRNs Cannot Practice in Georgia
Georgia requires APRNs to have a signed “protocol agreement” with a supervising physician to practice legally. Tara Taylor, executive director of the Georgia Board of Nursing, testified before the Georgia House Health Committee on June 23, 2026, that delegating physicians have already terminated or are considering terminating those agreements.
“Without a protocol agreement, APRNs cannot practice legally, and this could leave a lot of their current patients without access to healthcare.”
Tara Taylor, Executive Director, Georgia Board of Nursing, June 23, 2026
Taylor also noted that financial compensation is the “foundation” of these agreements. Without it, the agreements are unlikely to continue.
Rural Communities Face the Sharpest Impact
The Medical Board framed its guidance as targeting IV hydration lounges and med spas, where conflicts of interest between supervision and profit are more obvious. But Taylor testified that the guidance is written broadly enough to apply to any APRN-owned clinic, including those delivering primary care and mental health services in rural Georgia.
Nancy Hurlock, a nurse practitioner in Statesboro who runs a home-based primary care practice, told the committee that APRNs are often the only providers available in communities with physician shortages. If supervision agreements collapse, patients in those communities lose their provider entirely. There is no backup.
The Medical Board’s position, according to the head of the Georgia Medical Association, is that paid supervision arrangements risk compromising a physician’s independent clinical judgment. That concern is legitimate in commercial settings. Applied uniformly to rural primary care, it eliminates the structural workaround Georgia has used for years to deliver care in underserved areas.
The House Health Committee hearing on June 23 did not produce a legislative resolution. No bill has passed to override or clarify the Medical Board’s guidance as of this date.
What You Can Do Now
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Call your Georgia state representative and state senator. Tell them to pass legislation clarifying that compensated supervision agreements for rural primary care and mental health clinics are legal under Georgia law. Find your legislators at openstates.org/find-your-legislator/.
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Contact the Georgia Composite Medical Board directly. The board issued this guidance without a public comment period. Write to them at 2 Peachtree Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30303, or call (404) 656-3913, and ask them to suspend the position statement while the legislature reviews its impact on rural care.
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Contact the Georgia House Health Committee chair. Ask the committee to advance a bill specifically exempting rural primary care and mental health clinics from the Medical Board’s new compensation prohibition. The committee held a hearing on this issue on June 23, 2026, but has not acted.
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If you are a patient of a nurse practitioner in rural Georgia, ask your provider whether their supervision agreement is at risk. Document the impact and share it with your state legislators. Personal testimony from affected patients carries weight in committee hearings.