Clinical agencies Ball State will not use, state by state
Ball State's Current Student Resources page carries a short list headed Notes About Clinical Agencies By State. It rules out named health systems in California, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota and North Carolina, and warns that a Colorado agency may never get a contract. Only Florida, Illinois and Michigan are open to the MS in Nursing on today's map, so the list reads older than the map.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Ball State program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your Ball State course.
The list as Ball State publishes it
Each note is brief, and the wording ranges from a contract Ball State will not renew to a flat refusal to contract. The last column shows where the MS in Nursing stands today on Ball State's State Authorization Map.
| State | System named | Ball State's note, paraphrased | MS in Nursing today |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Sharp Healthcare | The current contract will not be extended; no Sharp facility may be a clinical site | Not authorized |
| Colorado | No single system | State workers' compensation rules can complicate agency contracts, approval can take longer with extra pre-clinical steps, and Ball State may not contract with the agency you choose | Not authorized |
| Florida | BayCare Health System | The current contract will not be extended; no BayCare facility may be used | Authorized |
| Illinois | Northwestern Memorial Healthcare | Ball State will not contract with it; facilities in the network may not be used | Authorized |
| Michigan | Spectrum Health and Henry Ford Health System | Ball State will not contract with either; facilities in those networks may not be used | Authorized |
| Minnesota | Allina Health System | Ball State will not contract with Allina; none of its facilities may be used | Not authorized |
| North Carolina | Atrium Health / Carolinas HealthCare System | No Atrium facility or contracted entity may serve as a clinical site | Not authorized |
What a no on this list means for your search
A named system is out even when one of its preceptors says yes. Every clinical site needs an affiliation agreement with Ball State, so a system Ball State will not contract with cannot become your site, however well the practice fits the course. For Illinois, Ball State spells out the reach: Northwestern Memorial Hospital, the Northwestern Medicine hospitals at Central DuPage, Delnor, Lake Forest, Kishwaukee, Valley West and Marianjoy Rehabilitation, and the network's medical and physician groups.
The North Carolina note goes beyond facilities and covers any entity under contract with Atrium Health. Read the other notes with the same care: a primary care office that looks independent may be owned by, or contracted to, a system on the list. Ask the practice who owns it before you invest a semester in the relationship.
Ball State's general agreement advice still covers every site that is not on the list: the standard Ball State agreement, started about a semester ahead, with a backup agency. The affiliation agreements guide covers it.
Why the list looks older than the map
Four of the seven states on the list, California, Colorado, Minnesota and North Carolina, are now closed to every Ball State nursing program on the State Authorization Map, so those notes cannot touch a current graduate student unless Ball State reopens a state. The map's graduate nursing entries were last saved in 2025, while the agreement guidance on the same Current Student Resources page reads the same in an archived copy from 2019.
System names have moved on too. The Michigan note says Henry Ford Health System, and the system now goes by Henry Ford Health. Atrium Health, named in the North Carolina note, is now part of Advocate Health, the parent of Advocate Health Care in Illinois and Aurora Health Care in Wisconsin. Ball State does not say whether its North Carolina note reaches those sister systems.
If a site you like belongs to a system that has merged or renamed, ask the Graduate Clinical Placement Coordinator whether a note applies before you ask the agency to sign. The state authorization guide lists where each program is open today.
Florida, Illinois and Michigan: where the notes still bite
In Florida, BayCare is off the table. Ball State's map authorizes both the MS in Nursing and the DNP there, though not the post-master's FNP certificate, so the note matters to master's and doctoral students alike. AdventHealth, HCA Florida Healthcare, Baptist Health South Florida and UF Health are among the state's other large systems, each with its own student process.
In Illinois, the Northwestern network is excluded and only the MS in Nursing is authorized; the certificate and the DNP are not. Given the Advocate Health question above, an Illinois student weighing an Advocate Health Care site should ask Ball State first. OSF HealthCare and Endeavor Health are other large Illinois systems.
In Michigan, both Spectrum Health and Henry Ford are excluded, and again only the MS in Nursing is authorized. Health systems in Michigan, as elsewhere, merge and rebrand, so check a clinic's current parent against both names before you commit. University of Michigan Health, Trinity Health Michigan and McLaren Health Care are other systems in the state.
Checking a site against the list
A few minutes of checking before the first conversation saves a semester of waiting on an agreement that cannot happen. Run these checks on your main site and on your backup, since the backup is the one you will need in a hurry.
- Find the ownerAsk the practice, or read its own site, for its parent health system and any management or contracting ties.
- Match it to the notesCompare the parent's current and former names with Ball State's list for your state.
- Ask when it is unclearSend the Graduate Clinical Placement Coordinator the practice name and owner before the agency signs anything.
- Keep a second agencyBall State encourages a backup agency every semester, and it matters more where the biggest local system is excluded.
How we keep excluded systems off your shortlist
Every site your placement advisor proposes is checked against Ball State's notes for your state, including ownership and contracting ties that are easy to miss from a practice's front door. Where the dominant local system is excluded, we widen the search to independent practices and community clinics that fit the exact Ball State course, and we flag any merged or renamed system for you to confirm with Ball State.
The result is a shortlist you can hand to Ball State without an agreement dead end waiting inside it, with a backup agency checked the same way and paperwork for the standard Ball State agreement ready to go. Request a placement, or read clinicals outside Indiana for the other rules that apply beyond the state line.
Questions Ball State students ask
Can I use a BayCare clinic for my Ball State clinicals in Florida?
No. Ball State's Current Student Resources page says its contract with BayCare Health System will not be extended and that none of BayCare's facilities may be used as a clinical site. Florida remains authorized for Ball State's MS in Nursing and DNP, so look to other systems and independent practices there.
Does Ball State's Northwestern exclusion cover Northwestern Medicine physician offices?
As Ball State words it, yes. The Illinois note covers facilities within the Northwestern Memorial Healthcare network and names its hospitals together with Northwestern Medical Group and Northwestern Medicine Regional Medical Group. A primary care office in those groups is part of the network, so it cannot serve as your clinical site.
Is Henry Ford Health excluded for Ball State students in Michigan?
Ball State's Michigan note says it will not contract with Spectrum Health or Henry Ford Health System, and that facilities in those networks may not be used. The system now calls itself Henry Ford Health, and nothing suggests the note lapsed with the name change, so plan around it unless Ball State tells you otherwise.
Why does Ball State's list name states where I cannot enroll?
The notes look older than the current State Authorization Map. California, Colorado, Minnesota and North Carolina are not authorized for any Ball State nursing program today, so those notes matter only if a state reopens. The list records contract decisions, not where you may live and train.
Does the list limit which Indiana health systems I can use?
No Indiana system appears on it. In Indiana the practical limits come from the systems' own student rules, such as IU Health's requirement that students have Indiana residence and an Indiana nursing license, and from the usual need for a signed Ball State affiliation agreement.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Ball State's own catalog, graduate handbook, program pages and State Authorization Map, and Indiana rules. Your course faculty, your advisor and the Graduate Clinical Placement Coordinator have the final word.
Ball State asks you to find your preceptor. We find one near you.
Tell us your Ball State track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course, confirm the practice will sign Ball State's affiliation agreement, and line up a backup, so the School of Nursing can clear the site before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NUR 682, women's health forNUR 684, adult primary care forNUR 681andNUR 683 - Outside your own unit or clinic, in a state where Ball State's program is authorized
- Across Indiana, from Muncie to Evansville, and in the other states Ball State accepts
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.