NP with DEA Registration Question

core0 · Mar 19, 2010

Hello,
My office is looking to hire a NP with DEA registration for a pain clinic we are starting up. I live in Virginia and can not find anything stating whether the supervising physician of the NP must have a DEA registration also. If anyone knows or can find this information could you please reply with a link to your reference? Thank you very much!

There are two issues here. The first is DEA. There is no need to link your DEA to a particular physician. The DEA is granted to a particular licensee. It is not tied to a particular clinic in a given state. If you are allowed to prescribe and you have the appropriate license then you will be issued a DEA number.

The DEA also assumes that you will follow all applicable state law. Failure to follow state law puts you in violation not only of the state law, but also of Federal (DEA) law. So if you get a DEA number but do not have a practice agreement in place to prescribe with the state and write a bunch of Class II scrips then not only the State but also the DEA will come looking for you. Each can charge you under their own laws.

In the particular circumstances that you are describing, a causal perusal of Virginia law does not appear to require the physician to have a DEA registration. However, for an NP to be licensed in VA you need to have a prescriptive authority number from the state. The form does not require listing of a DEA number by a physician, however, I would guess the board would wonder why they don't. I would guess the DEA would wonder why also. They tend to take a dim view of physicians using non-physician providers to get around limitations that the DEA has put on their ability to prescribe narcotics. If the supervising physician of a pain clinic does not have a DEA number, this is a clear sign to run - not walk away from the job.

David Carpenter, PA-C