PMHNP Programs in Missouri
Missouri has 7 verified, in-state PMHNP programs and a notably solid pay floor — its 25th percentile is one of the highest among comparable states. What it also has is the most prescriptive collaborative practice arrangement in this guide, with ratio, chart-review and proximity conditions attached to your license. Here are the programs, the rules, and the numbers.
The short version
Missouri has 7 verified, in-state PMHNP programs, listed below from our canonical dataset with sourced accreditation, credits, clinical hours and cost.
Missouri is a restricted-practice state, and it goes further than most: NPs must maintain a career-long collaborative practice arrangement with a physician as a condition of licensure, subject to ratio, chart-review and controlled-substance limits.
That "condition of licensure" framing matters. In several restricted states the physician relationship constrains what you may do; in Missouri, losing it puts your ability to practice at all in question.
The statewide NP wage is $129,930 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The more useful figure is the 25th percentile of $119,910 — a high floor, meaning even the lower quartile of Missouri NPs earns close to six figures and a half.
Accredited online programs also enroll Missouri residents — see our online PMHNP ranking.
Missouri's PMHNP field is stronger than its profile suggests: 7 verified in-state programs, anchored by academic centers in St. Louis and Kansas City, spanning master's, doctoral and certificate routes. The wage data is respectable too, and unusually well supported at the bottom of the distribution.
The complication is regulatory. Missouri requires a collaborative practice arrangement with a physician as a condition of licensure — not merely a constraint on scope — and attaches specific conditions to it: limits on how many nurse practitioners one physician may collaborate with, chart-review obligations, and controlled-substance restrictions. For psychiatric practice, where controlled substances are routine and caseloads are high, each of those is something you will feel week to week.
Below are the verified in-state programs, the licensure requirements in detail, and Missouri-specific pay data — with anything we could not source labeled rather than estimated.
The 7 verified psychiatric nurse practitioner (PMHNP) programs based in Missouri
Graceland University
Independence, MO
Saint Louis University Trudy Busch Valentine School of Nursing
St. Louis, MO
University of Missouri
Columbia, MO
Maryville University
St. Louis, MO
University of Missouri–Kansas City
Kansas City, MO
Maryville University
St. Louis, MO
University of Missouri–St. Louis
St. Louis, MO
Accredited online psychiatric nurse practitioner (PMHNP) programs Missouri residents can do
Most PMHNP study is online. These verified, accredited programs enroll students from most states and let you complete the supervised clinical hours near you. Online programs set their own state authorization, so confirm each one admits Missouri residents before you apply.
California State University, Fresno
CCNE-accredited · post-master's certificate · 540 clinical hrs
Program pageDrexel University College of Nursing and Health Professions
CCNE-accredited · post-master's certificate · 640 clinical hrs
Program pageFairleigh Dickinson University Henry P. Becton School of Nursing and Allied Health
ACEN-accredited · MSN · 750 clinical hrs
Program pageGeorgia Southern University School of Nursing
CCNE-accredited · BSN-to-DNP · 630 clinical hrs
Program pageGeorgia State University Byrdine F. Lewis College of Nursing and Health Professions
CCNE-accredited · MSN · 500 clinical hrs
Program pageHerzing University
CCNE-accredited · MSN / post-master's certificate · 540 clinical hrs
Program pageJohns Hopkins University School of Nursing
CCNE-accredited · post-master's certificate · 500 clinical hrs
Program pageLa Salle University School of Nursing and Health Sciences
CCNE-accredited · MSN · 692 clinical hrs
Program pageLewis University College of Nursing and Health Sciences
CCNE-accredited · MSN · 540 clinical hrs
Program pageNorthern Kentucky University School of Nursing
CCNE-accredited · MSN · 750 clinical hrs
Program pageRadford University School of Nursing
CCNE-accredited · post-master's certificate · 540 clinical hrs
Program pageRocky Mountain University of Health Professions
CCNE-accredited · post-master's certificate · 540 clinical hrs
Program pageSimmons University
CCNE-accredited · MSN / post-master's certificate · 756 clinical hrs
Program pageUniversity of Cincinnati College of Nursing
CCNE-accredited · post-master's certificate
Program pageUniversity of South Alabama College of Nursing
CCNE-accredited · MSN / post-master's certificate · 600 clinical hrs
Program pageConfirm current state authorization with each program. For the full comparison of these programs, see our online PMHNP ranking.
How to become a PMHNP in Missouri
The path to becoming a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner in Missouri is the same graduate-nursing route used nationwide, with one local variable: your APRN license and prescriptive authority come from the Missouri Board of Nursing. Here are the five steps.
- 01
Earn a BSN and an RN license
Most PMHNP programs admit Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) graduates who hold an active RN license. If you start with an associate degree or a non-nursing bachelor's, bridge programs exist. You'll practice on a Missouri RN license while you complete graduate school.
- 02
Enroll in an accredited PMHNP program
Choose an MSN or a BSN-to-DNP with a PMHNP focus. The degree must hold CCNE or ACEN accreditation, or it won't qualify you for the certification exam. Missouri has 7 verified in-state programs (listed above), and 46 accredited online programs also enroll Missouri residents.
- 03
Complete a minimum of 500 supervised clinical hours
The ANCC requires at least 500 faculty-supervised clinical hours, and many programs require 600 to 750. Securing local clinical placements is the biggest practical hurdle, so confirm whether a program arranges your preceptors before you enroll.
- 04
Pass the ANCC PMHNP-BC certification exam
The ANCC PMHNP-BC first-time pass rate was 83% in 2024 and 82% in 2025. Either the ANCC exam or the newer AANPCB PMHNP exam qualifies you for state licensure; ANCC's PMHNP-BC is the one most employers list by name.
- 05
Get Missouri APRN licensure and DEA registration
The Missouri Board of Nursing issues your APRN license and prescriptive authority once you're certified, and a federal DEA registration lets you prescribe controlled substances. Practice authority varies by state, so confirm current Missouri requirements with the board before you enroll.
For the full national pathway, including itemized cost, timeline, and program selection advice, see our complete guide on how to become a PMHNP.
Missouri NP licensure and collaborative practice arrangements
Licensure runs through the Missouri State Board of Nursing on top of national PMHNP-BC certification, and Missouri sits in the restricted-practice category.
The mechanism is the collaborative practice arrangement, and Missouri treats it as a condition of licensure rather than a scope limitation layered on top. The arrangement carries specific conditions: limits on the number of nurse practitioners a single physician may collaborate with, chart-review requirements, and restrictions on controlled-substance prescribing.
Two practical implications for a PMHNP. First, the ratio limit means a collaborating physician is a genuinely scarce resource — an employer's ability to hire you can depend on whether their physicians have capacity left. Second, the chart-review obligation is real administrative time that should be accounted for in any caseload discussion. Ask about both specifically; "we'll sort out the collaboration" is not an answer.
What the state requires
- Active Missouri RN license (or a multistate compact license)
- Graduate PMHNP degree from a CCNE- or ACEN-accredited program
- National PMHNP-BC certification (ANCC)
- APRN recognition from the Missouri State Board of Nursing
- A collaborative practice arrangement with a physician, required as a condition of licensure
- Compliance with collaboration ratio, chart-review and controlled-substance limits
- DEA registration to prescribe controlled substances
State board: Missouri State Board of Nursing
PMHNP pay in Missouri
Missouri's statewide NP wage is $129,930 per BLS OEWS (May 2025), with a mean of $130,970 across 7,710 nurse practitioners — modestly below the $132,300 national NP median.
The distinctive feature is the floor. Missouri's 25th percentile is $119,910, which is high relative to states with similar medians — the bottom quartile of the Missouri market earns more than the bottom quartile in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky or Tennessee. The 10th percentile is $100,650, the 75th is $144,640, and the 90th reaches $162,060.
Read against Missouri's cost of living, that compressed lower half is a real advantage for early-career psychiatric NPs: the downside case is better protected here than in most comparable markets, even though the top decile trails the national $174,420. BLS does not publish separate experience tiers for Missouri or a distinct psychiatric-mental health NP wage, so we show percentiles rather than invent tiers. See our PMHNP salary guide.
The Missouri PMHNP job market
Missouri's demand concentrates in the St. Louis and Kansas City metros, both of which host large health systems and academic medical centers, with substantial rural shortage areas across the rest of the state. The BLS projects nurse practitioner employment to grow about 40% from 2024 to 2034 nationally; a Missouri-specific projection is not separately verified here. The collaboration ratio limit is the constraint worth watching in rural placements — where physicians are scarcest, the availability of a collaborating physician can determine whether a psychiatric NP post exists at all, regardless of how badly the community needs one.
- Community mental health centers and FQHCs in Missouri often qualify for the federal NHSC Loan Repayment Program.
Choosing a PMHNP program from Missouri
With 7 verified in-state programs plus the national online field, Missouri offers real choice. The factors that matter most:
- Because Missouri caps how many nurse practitioners one physician may collaborate with, preceptor scarcity and collaborator scarcity are the same shortage — ask a program how it navigates that, not just whether it places students.
- Ask prospective employers directly about collaborating-physician capacity and chart-review expectations — Missouri's ratio limits make this a hiring constraint, not just paperwork.
- Choose your degree route deliberately — our MSN PMHNP ranking and post-master's certificate ranking compare the options.
- Weigh verified clinical hours against the 500-hour ANCC floor: Missouri's chart-review culture rewards graduates who arrive with more supervised practice, not the bare minimum.
- Public in-state programs generally undercut private and out-of-state options; each card below shows its verified rate where published.
- Weigh the in-state field against the national online options in our online PMHNP ranking.
Keep researching
Best Online PMHNP Programs
The full national field of accredited online options.
MSN PMHNP Programs
Master's-level PMHNP options compared.
PMHNP Programs by State
Browse every state's verified programs.
How to Become a PMHNP
The pathway, certification, and clinical-hour requirement.
PMHNP Salary Guide
What psychiatric NPs earn by state, experience, and setting.
Best PMHNP Programs
The flagship ranking across every format.
Questions, answered
How many PMHNP programs are in Missouri?+
What is a collaborative practice arrangement in Missouri?+
Can nurse practitioners practice independently in Missouri?+
How much do PMHNPs make in Missouri?+
Can I do a PMHNP online in Missouri?+
Program details and figures trace to primary sources; gaps are labeled, not estimated.
- [1] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, OEWS: Nurse Practitioners (29-1171), national and state wages (May 2025)
- [2] U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook: Nurse Practitioners
- [3] AANP, State Practice Environment (Missouri: restricted practice)
- [4] AANP State Policy Fact Sheet — Missouri (Oct 2025)
- [5] Missouri State Board of Nursing