Indiana APRN Audit

According to Indiana Code § 25-23-1-19.8, before December 31st of every even numbered year, the Board is required to randomly audit at least one per cent (1%) but not more than ten per cent (10%) of the APRNs with authority to prescribe legend drugs. This was enacted last year, and the board is still in the process of auditing.

Currently, an Indiana APRN is required to complete at least 30 hours of continuing education of which eight (8) hours must be in the area of pharmacology and if you prescribe controlled substances, two (2) hours of the eight (8) hours must be in opioid prescribing practices. The continuing education must be provided by a nationally sponsored organization.

APRNs are not required to submit the continuing education however, if they are audited, they must provide all the certificates of their continuing education done within the audit period.

The Board conducts this audit to make sure that the APRN has completed the continuing education and that the APRN has a valid collaborative practice agreement in place and is operating within the terms of the agreement.

Apparently, some APRNs have collaborative practice agreements where the collaborating physician does not review the charts or do some things that are required by the collaborative agreement. Therefore, during the audit, the APRN must provide a

sworn statement from the collaborating physician that they are working within the terms of the agreement.

If you are receive an email and/or letter saying you are being audited, you will be required to upload your continuing education certificates, Collaborative Practice Agreement and the sworn statements to the Professional Licensing Agency portal. If you have more than one collaborator, then you must submit sworn statements from each.

If the Board feels you have not complied with the requirements of the audit, they will call you in for an order to show cause signifying you have complied with the requirements. Of course, we would be happy to assist you with this process.

In the meantime, I just wanted to share valuable information on how this process works so that you can be prepared should you be in the process of being audited now or in the future.