Physician duties · CRNA · Maine
Signing for a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist in Maine: what the physician takes on
The agreement is mandatory for the clinician, which makes its duties mandatory for you. Maine does not name a specific instrument.
Outside a critical-access/rural-hospital setting, a CRNA remains 'responsible and accountable to a licensed physician or dentist' for aspects of anesthesia practice requiring execution of the medical regimen (32 M.R.S. § 2211) — effectively supervised_only. Only in the qualifying rural/CAH setting may a CRNA formulate and implement a patient-specific anesthesia plan (P.L. enacting 'An Act Regarding Anesthesia Care in Rural Maine').
Independent practice requires: practicing in a critical access hospital, or a hospital located in a rural area, and acting in accordance with that facility's bylaws/policies — a practice-setting fact rather than an hours/experience threshold.
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
outside a critical access hospital / rural hospital: On-site presence required
32 M.R.S. § 2211 requires the CRNA be accountable to a supervising physician/dentist for executing the medical regimen — exact proximity mechanics (vs. a telecommunication standard) were not independently confirmed in this pass; coded ON_SITE as the more conservative reading pending verification.
in a qualifying critical access hospital or rural hospital: No proximity requirement
The CRNA may formulate/implement a patient-specific anesthesia plan per facility bylaws/policies, without the standard physician/dentist accountability relationship.
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
in a qualifying critical access hospital or rural hospital: Covered by the practice agreement · controlled substances permitted
DEA Schedules III, IIIN, IV, and V only — maximum 4-day supply, no refills, and only for a patient for whom the CRNA has an established client/patient record. No Schedule II authority.
outside a critical access hospital / rural hospital: Covered by the practice agreement · no controlled-substance authority
No independent prescriptive authority — administers anesthesia-related drugs as executed under the supervising physician/dentist's medical regimen.
Written agreement
Required
Required outside the rural/critical-access-hospital carve-out — a CRNA is accountable to a supervising physician or dentist by default; that accountability relationship doesn't apply the same way within a qualifying rural/CAH setting.
Practice ownership (corporate practice of medicine)
Licensee-only ownership required — Not independently confirmed in this pass — treat CRNA practice-entity ownership as an open item given CRNAs' generally supervised status outside the rural/CAH carve-out.
Legal sources for these rules (3)
- 32 M.R.S. § 2211 — Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetists
- An Act Regarding Anesthesia Care in Rural Maine (SP0387/LD 1166)
- AANA — Maine state practice pagesecondary
What physicians charge for this role
Typical monthly compensation in Maine
$500 – $600
Estimate for one Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist. This state's rules add a restrictive-tier premium.
About Maine's rules
Maine's provider categories follow different independence models: NPs graduate to full practice after 24 months of registered (not written-agreement) supervision; PAs graduate after 4,000 documented clinical hours but still need a lighter 'practice agreement' afterward; CNMs/CNSs appear independent from initial licensure; and CRNAs remain physician/dentist-accountable except in critical-access/rural hospitals. Do not assume a single APRN framework applies uniformly.
Other clinicians in Maine: see the state overview.