Affiliation agreements: the contract between Lewis and your clinical site

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Lewis Preceptor placement team

Lewis needs a current affiliation agreement with your clinical agency before a practicum there can go forward. When none exists, Lewis drafts one and sends it to the agency, and your request stays in review until the signed copy comes back. That signature runs on the agency's clock, so of everything in your placement it deserves the earliest start.

Get matched Chat now

Get your placement plan

Tell us your Lewis program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your Lewis course.

Numbered steps. How the placement desk keeps the agreement off your critical path: 1 Ask the site early; 2 Lean toward sites that already host students; 3 Give Lewis a clean starting point; 4 File as soon as the preceptor commits; 5 Keep the commitment warm. — How the placement desk keeps the agreement off your critical path: 1 Ask the site early; 2 Lean toward sites that already host students; 3 Give Lewis a clean starting point; 4 File as soon as the preceptor commits; 5 Keep the commitment warm.

What Lewis's legend says about agreements

The only public Lewis description of agreements sits inside Lewis's contract status legend, a PDF created in 2020 that the portal still offers today. It says that during review, if a current affiliation agreement is not in place, Lewis drafts one and sends it to the agency, and the request remains In Review until the signed contract is returned. A later status in the same legend, where a contract is in place and active, is the point at which the agency turns to clearing you.

Read in order, the legend gives you the sequence: your preceptor agrees, you file the request, a missing agreement is drafted, the agency signs, and only then does the agency begin onboarding you. Every status along the way is set out on the contract portal guide.

What an affiliation agreement is for

An affiliation agreement is a contract between Lewis University and the agency itself. It is not a contract between you and your preceptor, who is named separately on your request. Illinois's nursing education rule, which was written for RN programs, says articles of affiliation should "clearly delineate student, educational institution and health care agency roles and responsibilities," and that is a fair summary of what these documents settle.

Agencies treat the agreement as their front gate. Northwestern Medicine's student practicum page says only applicants from schools with a current affiliation agreement with Northwestern Medicine will be placed. Riverside Healthcare's NP student page makes an affiliation agreement with Riverside a condition of placement. Lewis brings something to the table as well: it pays for student clinical insurance, explained on student clinical insurance.

Why a new agreement takes time

Lewis gives no turnaround for a new agreement. Its two-week figure is the floor for processing a request, and an agreement wait stacks on top of that. The agency has to review Lewis's draft and return it signed on its own schedule, and neither you nor Lewis controls that pace.

Health systems hint at the scale in their own words. Morris Hospital's student rotation page says its affiliation agreement may take several weeks, and rotations there run through Human Resources rather than the unit you would work on. Northwestern Medicine asks students requesting a practicum to allow a minimum of 4-8 weeks. A small private practice may never have signed a school agreement before, and a first-time signer can take longer to get comfortable with the terms.

Which sites are likely to need one

Lewis publishes a list of agencies that provide on-site clinical experience for its nursing students: 49 names on its website and 62 in the catalog, with a note to consult your advisor for the most current listing. An agency on that list already hosts Lewis students. The list is built around BSN clinical groups, though, so whether an existing agreement also covers graduate NP students is a question for the Clinical Placement Office, not an assumption to make.

Some names on the web list are also out of date. What it calls Ascension Saint Joseph - Joliet has been Saint Joseph Medical Center under Prime Healthcare since March 2025, and Edward Hospital and Linden Oaks now belong to Endeavor Health. Changes like these are worth flagging when you file, since the agency's current name is what belongs on your request.

When an agreement ends

Agreements can end as well as begin. Lewis's legend counts a clinical agency's revocation of its contract with Lewis among the reasons a student's contract can be denied, and it marks a contract Inactive when any of the parties, you included, cancels it. In either case the site stops being an approved place for your hours until something new is approved.

A revocation is outside your control, which is why it helps to know your second-choice site before you need it. If your site announces a sale or merger while you are still searching, mention it to the Clinical Placement Office, since a new owner can mean a new party to the agreement. The other denial reasons, and what to do on the day one arrives, are on why contracts get denied.

Sites outside Illinois

For a practicum in another state, the agreement is only one layer. Lewis's graduate policy says out-of-Illinois learning placements may need permission beyond the usual, from Lewis, the host state or Illinois licensing boards, and it asks students to talk with an academic advisor and licensure agencies before starting. The same policy notes that the field placements built into Lewis's graduation requirements are aligned with Illinois academic experiences only, and Lewis's March 2026 licensure disclosures warn that clinical rotations can face restrictions in a given state.

Your license has to match the location too: the BSN to DNP asks for an RN license in Illinois and/or the practicum state, and the DNP asks for one in the residency state. Lewis authorizes online graduate nursing enrollment in 18 jurisdictions, listed on state authorization, and the steps for an out-of-state practicum are on clinicals outside Illinois.

How the placement desk keeps the agreement off your critical path

Ask the site earlyBefore we present a preceptor to you, we ask whether the site takes NP students from schools and who handles school agreements there.
Lean toward sites that already host studentsWhen two options fit your course equally, the agency with an established student program usually has a well-worn contracting path.
Give Lewis a clean starting pointYou receive the agency's current name, address and agreement contact, so Lewis's draft reaches the right desk the first time.
File as soon as the preceptor commitsEvery week between the preceptor's yes and your submission is a week the agreement clock is not running.
Keep the commitment warmWhile the agreement is pending, we stay in touch with the preceptor so the yes still holds on approval day.

That is how we stop a new agreement from eating into a 16-week practicum. See how it works or send the form below.

Questions Lewis students ask

Does my preceptor sign the affiliation agreement with Lewis?

Usually not personally. The legend says Lewis sends the draft to the agency and the signed contract comes back from the agency, so the signer is whoever can commit the agency to a contract. At a large system that may be someone your preceptor has never met. Your preceptor can still help by pointing you to the right office.

Can I start my hours while the agreement is being signed?

Plan on starting only once the contract reaches Approved. Lewis's legend describes that as the point where a student is essentially able to begin at the named site with the named preceptors, from the start of the requested semester. A request still waiting on an agreement is two stages short of that.

Does Lewis need a new agreement for every student at the same site?

No. The legend calls for drafting one only when a current agreement is not in place. Once an agency has signed, later requests can move on to agency clearance, provided the agreement is still current and covers the kind of placement involved. The Clinical Placement Office can confirm where your site stands.

Is the affiliation agreement the same as my contract request?

No, though Lewis's legend calls both contracts. Your request in the portal asks Lewis to approve a specific site, preceptor and semester for you. The affiliation agreement is the standing contract between Lewis and the agency that lets Lewis students train there at all. You file the first; Lewis and the agency sign the second.

Who can tell me whether Lewis already has an agreement with my site?

The Clinical Placement Office, since it runs the contracting side of placements. A site's presence on Lewis's public list of clinical agencies suggests a relationship, but that list is built for undergraduate clinical groups and Lewis itself says to check with an advisor for the current version. Ask before you promise a preceptor a start date.

Lewis systemContract portal and statusesHow Lewis's Requests for Initiation of Agency Contracts portal works: your account, the request, and all eight contract statuses in Lewis's own words.Lewis systemWhy contracts get deniedThe five denial reasons in Lewis's contract legend, what an Inactive contract means, and how to keep your Lewis practicum contract clean to the last shift.Lewis systemClinical Placement OfficeWhat Lewis's Clinical Placement Office does for NP students: facilitator, portal contact, contract and paperwork desk, and what to bring when you reach out.Lewis systemClinicals outside IllinoisDoing a Lewis practicum outside Illinois: extra permissions, the 18 jurisdictions Lewis enrolls from, licensure gaps by track, and the Illinois license option.ComplianceStudent clinical insuranceLewis covers the cost of student clinical insurance for nursing practicums. What that means for you and your site, what you still pay for, and where questions go.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against Lewis's own catalog, program pages and FAQ, its contract portal and Illinois law. Your course, your track coordinator and the Clinical Placement Office have the final word.

Lewis asks you to identify your preceptor. We do the searching.

Tell us your Lewis program, where you live and when your next practicum starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and prepare every detail the contract portal asks for, so your request goes in complete.

Preceptors matched to the practicum: primary care for NURS 61100 and NURS 61800, acute care for NURS 62500, psychiatric care for NURS 63300
Preceptor, license and site details ready for your preceptor contract request
In your own community, anywhere Lewis enrolls you and your RN license is valid

Start your placement plan

Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.