Illinois NP practice authority and your Lewis preceptor

What the Illinois statute says

The rule lives in 225 ILCS 65/65-43 of the Illinois Nurse Practice Act, a section titled "Full practice authority". An Illinois-licensed nurse practitioner who files a notarized attestation of at least 250 hours of continuing education or training and at least 4,000 hours of clinical experience, counted after first attaining national certification, no longer needs a written collaborative agreement. Those clinical hours have to fall in the nurse practitioner's certification area and be worked in collaboration with physicians.

Two limits stay in place after that. Schedule II prescribing still calls for a consultation relationship with a physician, and for benzodiazepines the statute allows up to a 120-day supply before consultation is required. That is why AANP's state practice map files Illinois under "reduced" practice even though the state offers a full practice license.

The Nurse Practice Act is due for repeal on January 1, 2028 unless the legislature extends it, so read the current text on the Illinois General Assembly's site before you rely on any single detail here.

Most Illinois preceptors practice under an agreement

Expect most Illinois nurse practitioners you approach to work under a collaborative agreement. IDFPR counted 2,823 APRNs with full practice authority in January 2024, up from 376 in December 2019, while its October 2025 report counted 21,082 APRN licensees, 17,087 of them certified nurse practitioners. The dates differ, so treat the comparison as our rough picture rather than an IDFPR figure: full practice holders are a small share of the state's APRNs.

None of that stands in the way of precepting. What counts for your Lewis request is whether the clinician and the practice fit your course. When a collaborating physician at the same site will also teach you, list both: Lewis's contract legend says approval covers the site "with the indicated preceptor(s)".

Checks worth making before you name a preceptor

• The Illinois license record, since IDFPR discipline against a preceptor can get a Lewis contract denied (denial reasons)
• The certification area set against the course: adult primary care for NURS 61100, acute care for NURS 62500 and NURS 62700, psychiatric care for NURS 63300 to NURS 63700
• Who else at the site will share your clinical days, a physician or a second nurse practitioner
• The practice's own student rules, which some health systems post on their student pages

After Lewis: your first 4,000 hours

Your Lewis practicum hours sit outside the 4,000. The statute counts clinical experience from the point you first attain national certification, so the count starts once you pass your boards, not during NURS 61100 or your final practicum. Your first Illinois NP job will run under a written collaborative agreement, and the attestation comes later.

The 250 hours of continuing education or training belong to the same attestation. Once you precept students yourself, Illinois counts that work toward license renewal CE at 10 hours per student per semester, capped at 30 per renewal (the preceptor CE credit); IDFPR's full practice application sets how hours are tallied for the attestation. IDFPR says full practice applications may now be completed online.

Planning to work outside Illinois? Illinois sits outside both the Nurse Licensure Compact and the APRN Compact, and every state writes its own practice rules. Start with the Illinois APRN license steps and Lewis's licensure tables.