Approximately 60 days before a license expires, the Bureau sends a renewal notice to the licensee. Submitting the renewal is confirmation that the continuing education requirement has been completed. Credits from one license period cannot be saved for the next cycle. Dates of completion are carefully reviewed as well as the hours awarded. It is in your best interest to carefully monitor completion of the correct continuing education. If you have not completed your continuing education, remember that you have a 60-day grace period after the expiration date in which to complete the continuing education. Do not submit your renewal until the continuing education is completed.

Approximately 90 days after the expiration date, the Bureau generates a list of individuals who renewed their licenses. A sample of these individuals is randomly selected from this list. The sampled licensees are asked to verify the continuing education that they completed during their last licensure period. All of the courses should be approved programs and completed within the license period. For example, if a 2-year license period expires on March 15, 2003, all the continuing education requirements must be completed between March 16, 2001 and March 15, 2003. All continuing education completion certificates or proof of attendance records must be kept for up to 1 year beyond the licensure period. If the license is good for 3 years, save your proofs for 4 years.

If you are selected in the sample, you will receive a letter requesting that you submit documentation of the continuing education you completed in the licensure period. You will have 30 days to send to the Bureau the materials requested. If you fail to respond to our first request, you will receive within 10 days a second letter requesting proof of completion of your continuing education. If you still fail to respond, your file is sent to the Bureau's Health Regulatory Division. At this point, you are considered in violation of the Public Health Code.

If you do not submit the required proof of completion of your continuing education at this stage, a complaint will be filed against your license. The penalty for most boards is a reprimand, a monetary fine and probation. Probation typically includes completion of the missing continuing education in addition to the continuing education for the current licensure period. This is a permanent sanction on your licensure record. Any requests for the status of your license will include a record that you have been disciplined for failing to complete the continuing education requirement.

The laws regarding continuing education requirements do not distinguish between active and inactive licensees. As long as you retain your license, you are subject to the continuing education requirements for your profession. Consult the rules for each profession to determine the number of hours required and the acceptable continuing education activities. Each board is different and you should be careful not to assume that what one profession accepts is approved for all professions.

Below is a listing, by board, of the continuing education credits required. You can view the CE brochure for each profession by clicking on the profession name.