Physician duties · PharmD · Georgia
Signing for a Pharmacist in Georgia: what the physician takes on
The agreement is mandatory for the clinician, which makes its duties mandatory for you. Georgia calls the instrument a Drug Therapy Modification (DTM) Protocol.
Several separate, narrower protocol-gated pathways rather than one unified 'collaborative practice' status — none amounts to general independent prescribing. No Georgia flu/strep 'test and treat' law was found (a commonly-repeated claim traces to North Carolina legislation, not Georgia — confirmed as a cross-state citation error and excluded here).
Independent practice requires: Certified for Drug Therapy Modification (O.C.G.A. §§ 26-4-50, 43-34-24) — physician must first diagnose and issue a written order/protocol; pharmacist adjusts only within that patient-specific protocol; OR certified for vaccine administration under a physician-issued protocol (§ 43-34-26.1) or, for pharmacy technicians specifically, under a supervising pharmacist for certain adult vaccines (§ 26-4-52); OR (eff. 7/1/2026) certified to prescribe/dispense PrEP/PEP under a statewide Board of Pharmacy protocol with physician oversight (S.B. 195, 2025-26 session); OR (protocol expected eff. 1/1/2027) certified to dispense hormonal contraceptives under a joint DPH/Board of Pharmacy protocol (H.B. 1138, signed 5/11/2026).
What you take on as the physician
The rules the physician relationship has to follow. Each fact comes from the statute or board rule listed under sources.
Proximity
Not codified — left to the agreement
Supervision ratio
Not codified — no cap on file
Chart review
Not codified — left to the agreement
Meeting cadence
As needed
Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. 480-35-.04 requires the drug-therapy-modification protocol to specify a 'method and frequency of notification to the physician' of any modification — parties define the cadence themselves; no board-mandated frequency was found.
Prescriptive authority
Separate prescribing terms required · controlled substances permitted
This cross-reference is confirmed to exist, but the full text of §§ 16-13-41/-74 was not independently read to confirm exactly how it constrains Schedule II modification in practice — flag as partially verified.
Written agreement
Required
True for Drug Therapy Modification (written protocol) and vaccine administration (protocol agreement). PrEP/PEP uses a statewide Board-developed protocol rather than a per-pharmacist agreement. Base dispensing/counseling needs no physician agreement.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Non-licensee ownership permitted — O.C.G.A. § 26-4-110 explicitly contemplates pharmacy ownership by 'a sole proprietor, partnership, association, corporation, or otherwise' — no requirement that the owner be a licensed pharmacist. Every pharmacy must designate a 'pharmacist in charge' with personal supervision of the prescription department during operating hours (limited exceptions for hospitals/nursing homes/pharmacy schools/HMOs); one pharmacist may supervise only one location at a time.
Materially more permissive than the physician/APRN CPOM framework above.
Legal sources for these rules (7)
- O.C.G.A. § 26-4-50 — Drug therapy modification certificationsecondary
- O.C.G.A. § 43-34-24 — Drug therapy management/modification by a pharmacist
- O.C.G.A. § 26-4-110 — Pharmacy licenses/ownershipsecondary
- Ga. Comp. R. & Regs. R. 480-35-.04 — Requirements for a Protocol (via Cornell LII mirror)secondary
- O.C.G.A. § 43-34-26.1 — Vaccine protocol agreements; § 26-4-52 — Pharmacy technician vaccine administration
- S.B. 195 (2025-26 session) — PrEP/PEP pharmacist authority, signed, eff. 7/1/2026 — SECONDARY SOURCE ONLY, bill text not independently fetched
- H.B. 1138 (2026 session) — 'Increasing Access to Contraceptives Act,' signed 5/11/2026, joint protocol expected eff. 1/1/2027 — SECONDARY SOURCE ONLY, bill text not independently fetched
What physicians charge for this role
Typical monthly compensation in Georgia
$500 – $600
Estimate for one Pharmacist. Standard-tier state.
About Georgia's rules
Georgia remains one of the more restrictive states in this dataset — no independent-practice pathway exists for NP/PMHNP/CRNA/CNM/CNS, and a 50-mile APRN physician-proximity rule was NOT removed by 2023-2024 reform (a common misconception). That reform raised the ratio cap (4→a combined 8 APRNs+PAs) and added a narrow hydrocodone/oxycodone-only Schedule II exception — APRNs/PAs are otherwise barred from Schedule II. Georgia's primary-source sites were unusually inaccessible this pass; treat citations with extra caution pending follow-up.
Other clinicians in Georgia: see the state overview.