State law requires continuing education for license renewal for several categories of health professions. Generally, the applicable law or regulations (1) define basic requirements for continuing education programs, (2) establish a system to document that a professional satisfied the requirements, and (3) allow the relevant agency to waive a continuing education requirement due to a medical disability or for good cause.

Table 1 lists all professions regulated by the Department of Public Health that must complete continuing education for state license or certification renewal. The table also includes pharmacists, who are licensed by the Department of Consumer Protection.

Please note that for all of the professions listed below, the continuing education requirements are waived for the first license renewal period.

Table 1: Continuing Education Requirements for Health Professions' License Renewal

Table 1: -Continued-

*called “continued competency” for these professions

In addition, some professions' national certifying bodies may require continuing education to maintain certification. For example, the American Nurses Credentialing Center (a subsidiary of the American Nurses Association) requires professional development, which may include continuing education or other specified components, as part of the certification renewal process. Certifications must be renewed every five years, and the specific requirements vary depending on the type of certification. Effective January 1, 2014, all renewal applicants will be required to fulfill 75 contact hours of continuing education as half of their professional development requirement. More information is available on the center's website: http://www.nursecredentialing.org/RenewalRequirements.aspx.

For another example, the American Academy of Physician Assistants requires physician assistants to complete 100 hours of continuing education every two years to maintain national certification (http://www.aapa.org/your_pa_career/licensing_and_certification.aspx).

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