Last updated: October 14, 2026.
This is general information, not legal advice and not a Florida Board of Nursing determination. Confirm the current form, fee, and fingerprint instructions on floridasnursing.gov before you apply.
Florida is not a full-practice state for nurse practitioners. AANP’s May 2026 State Practice Environment map classifies Florida as restricted practice. Florida does offer a separate registration, called autonomous APRN registration, under Florida Statutes § 464.0123. That registration is added to a Florida APRN license. It is not a multistate NP license, and it is not the same legal status as full practice authority in a state AANP lists as full practice.
Is Florida a full practice state?
No. Restricted practice, in AANP’s definition, means state law requires career-long supervision, delegation, or team management by another health provider for NP practice. Florida’s autonomous registration is a way for some APRNs to practice without a physician supervisory protocol, inside the limits of § 464.0123. Everyone else remains under Florida’s protocol rules.
The word autonomous on a Florida form does not mean the clinician can practice every specialty without a protocol. The statute limits autonomous practice for most registrants to primary care.
Eligibility
Section 464.0123(1) says the board shall register an APRN as an autonomous APRN if the applicant demonstrates that they:
- hold an active, unencumbered license to practice advanced nursing under § 464.012,
- have not been subject to disciplinary action specified in § 456.072 or § 464.018, or similar discipline in another jurisdiction, within the five years before the request,
- have completed at least 3,000 clinical practice hours within those five years, in any U.S. state or territory, while practicing as an APRN under the supervision of an allopathic or osteopathic physician who held an active, unencumbered license, and
- have completed, within the past five years, three graduate-level semester hours (or the equivalent) in differential diagnosis and three graduate-level semester hours (or the equivalent) in pharmacology.
The 3,000 hours may include clinical instructional hours. The statute defines clinical instruction as education provided by faculty in a clinical setting in a graduate program leading to a master’s or doctoral degree in a clinical nursing specialty. The Board’s registration page restates the same four points and says applications are valid for one year.
The Board may add registration requirements by rule. Read the current instructions, not only the statute.
What the registration allows, and what it does not
Subsection (3) says a registered APRN may engage in autonomous practice only in primary care, including family medicine, general pediatrics, and general internal medicine, as defined by board rule. The registrant may perform the general APRN functions in § 464.012(3) related to primary care. Certified nurse midwives have a separate authorization for the acts listed in § 464.012(4)(c), plus detailed transfer-of-care rules for out-of-hospital birth.
The registrant may admit, manage, and discharge a patient in a health care facility as the statute describes, unless federal law prohibits it, and may provide certain signatures that a statute otherwise reserves to a physician. The registrant may not issue a physician certification under § 381.986. Autonomous practice may not include any surgical procedure other than a subcutaneous procedure.
Financial responsibility is part of the registration. Unless an exception applies, the APRN must maintain professional liability coverage of at least $100,000 per claim with a minimum annual aggregate of $300,000, or an irrevocable letter of credit in those amounts. Exceptions include exclusive federal or state employment, inactive registration, and practice that is only incidental to a teaching post. If you are not actually practicing under the registration, the coverage duty can pause, and it restarts when you do.
New patients must receive written information about the APRN’s qualifications and the nature of autonomous practice before or during the first visit.
Renewal is biennial, on the same cycle as the APRN license. The registrant must complete at least 10 hours of board-approved continuing education in addition to the 30 hours required under § 464.013, even if some other exemption would have waived those 30 hours.
How to apply
The Florida Board of Nursing posts the process on its autonomous APRN page.
- Hold a clear, active Florida APRN license. Registration does not create the underlying license. If you are moving, get the Florida RN or multistate RN authority and the Florida APRN license first. RN, LPN, and APRN endorsement are a different filing, covered in transferring a nursing license to Florida.
- Complete at least 3,000 qualifying hours and the two graduate courses inside the five-year window. Collect transcripts or course descriptions that show differential diagnosis and pharmacology.
- Confirm you have no disqualifying discipline in the last five years.
- Submit the autonomous APRN registration. The Board’s form DH-MQA 5050 (revised 8/2020, Rule 64B9-4.020, F.A.C.) asks the applicant to attest to discipline, the 3,000 hours, and the coursework. Use the PDF the Board is publishing now. A copy saved on a blog is not the filing copy.
- Complete electronic fingerprinting. The Board’s application page says House Bill 975, from the 2024 session, requires electronic fingerprinting for this profession and that the application cannot be approved until that requirement and the other criteria are met.
- The Board says applications are reviewed for completeness within 30 days of receipt. When requirements are met, the autonomous practice authorization is added to the current Florida license. The practitioner profile is supposed to show the registration.
Arrange financial responsibility before you start autonomous practice. Coverage is a registration condition, not a suggestion.
Moving to Florida as an NP
Treat it as a stack, not one form.
- RN authority, through the required RN license or a qualifying multistate RN privilege. An LPN license does not satisfy the RN prerequisite for APRN practice.
- Florida APRN license, including national certification and the education the Board requires. The endorsement steps for that license are in transferring a nursing license to Florida.
- Protocol with a physician, unless and until the autonomous registration is on the license and your practice fits the primary-care limit.
- Autonomous registration, if you want to practice primary care without that protocol and you meet § 464.0123.
- DEA registration, and any state controlled-substance step Florida requires, before you prescribe scheduled drugs. Use the prescribing roadmap.
People comparing destinations can read NP full practice authority states and the definition of autonomous practice in what is an autonomous nurse practitioner?. Florida should be described as restricted practice plus an optional primary-care registration.
Related move guides include New York to Florida RN and New York to Florida PA. APRN requirements are profession-specific. A PA guide does not answer an NP application.
Build an evidence file for the five-year window
Keep a dated practice log showing APRN role, practice location, supervising physician, and eligible clinical hours. Retain employment or supervisor evidence that supports the log. Save transcripts and course information separately so the differential-diagnosis and pharmacology requirements are easy to identify. Count the lookback from the application date; older experience does not automatically qualify.
Before the first autonomous visit, verify that the registration appears on your license, confirm that your services fit the authorized scope, arrange the required financial responsibility, and prepare the written notice for new patients. Keep the ordinary APRN renewal and autonomous-registration CE requirements on the same calendar.
Florida APRNs also need three hours of controlled-substance prescribing CE and two hours of human-trafficking CE each biennium, even when national certification provides another CE exemption. These are specified in §464.013 and the Board’s renewal guidance. The autonomous-registration requirement adds ten approved hours; DEA MATE training is a separate federal requirement.
Frequently asked questions
Is Florida a full practice state for NPs?
No. AANP classifies Florida as restricted. Autonomous APRN registration is a limited addition to a Florida APRN license.
How many hours do I need?
At least 3,000 clinical practice hours in the five years before the request, under physician supervision, as § 464.0123(1)(c) defines them.
Can a psychiatric NP use this registration for a full psychiatry practice?
The statute limits autonomous practice, other than the certified nurse midwife path, to primary care as defined by board rule: family medicine, general pediatrics, and general internal medicine. Do not assume a psychiatric practice qualifies. Read the Board’s rule on the definition of primary care before you apply.
What form do I file?
The Board has published DH-MQA 5050 for autonomous APRN registration. Download the current file from floridasnursing.gov.
Sources
- Florida Statutes § 464.0123 (2026).
- Florida Board of Nursing, autonomous APRN registration.
- Florida Board of Nursing, applying for autonomous APRN licensure, including the electronic fingerprint requirement tied to House Bill 975 (2024).
- DH-MQA 5050, Board form citing Rule 64B9-4.020, F.A.C.
- AANP State Practice Environment, May 2026, classifying Florida as restricted practice.