Physical Therapy Continuing Education Requirements

Almost all Physical Therapists and Physical Therapist Assistants are required to complete continuing education to maintain their licenses. Licenses are issued individually by each state, therefore, physical therapy continuing education requirements are also determined by each state.

The History of Continuing Education

The history of physical therapy continuing education is not actually that old. According to the Federation of State Boards of Physical Therapy (FSBPT), as of 1996, only 21 of the physical therapy licensing boards required continuing education. Today, almost every state board has PT continuing education requirements. The exceptions include Maine which does not have requirements for PTs or PTAs, and Hawaii and Connecticut which do not have PTA continuing education requirements.

Many professions require continuing education. This is not limited to health care professionals. Teachers, real estate agents, lawyers and architects, amongst others, require some type of continuing education. Per the FSBPT: “By far the majority of professions have used continuing education requirements as the standard for re‐licensure, allowing the completion of educational courses to suffice for continuing competence to practice.”

Despite the relatively short history of PT CEU requirements, things are already evolving. The FSBPT has defined continuing competence as: “The lifelong process of maintaining and documenting competence through ongoing self-assessment, development and implementation of a personal learning plan, and subsequent reassessment.” Many state boards are also starting to use this newer definition and allow alternative activities to count toward the PT CEU requirements. One or two even require a certain number of CEUs to be earned through an avenue other than traditional coursework. For example, Michigan requires at least four of the 24 required PDRs to be obtained by alternatives to courses. Common activities that can earn CEUs include:

• acting as a Clinical Instructor
• becoming an APTA Certified Specialist,
• participating in journal clubs
• attending in-services
• teaching a continuing education course
• teaching at a college or university
• presentations
• becoming a member of a state board
• volunteering for a professional association committee

What Is a CEU?

CEU is the abbreviation for continuing education unit. Simply defined, it is a measure of time. In general, one CEU is defined as 50 to 60 minutes of time spent completing a course or activity. However, a few states consider one CEU to be the equivalent of 10 hours of activity. If a state requires a single digit number of CEUs, you can assume you need to multiply that number by ten to find the total number of hours needed. For example, 3 CEUs translates to 30 hours of education. To confuse things even more, some states refer to the units of measure as CCUs (continuing competence units), PDAs (professional development activities) and PDRs (professional development requirements). But the conversion is the same. One CCU, PDA or PDR still equates to approximately one hour of activity.

How Many CEUs Are Required?

Not only did states adopt PT CEU requirements at their own pace, but they each set their own number of CEUs required for renewal, as well as their own time frames. Most renewal cycles are one to two years. New York being the exception with a three year cycle. The one year cycles generally require between 10 and 20 CEUs, while two year cycles typically require 20 to 40 CEUs. The differences don’t stop there. In some states PTs and PTAs have the same requirements, in others, PTAs need less CEUs than PTs.

As part of the total number of physical therapy CEUs required, you may be expected to fulfill special requirements. Some of the most common requirements include the topics of ethics and jurisprudence, pain management, suicide assessment and prevention and cultural competency.

There may also be limits on the number of CEUs you can obtain in certain categories. The most common limitation refers to the number of CEUs you can obtain online. During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, some states were more lenient regarding this requirement. Many of those waivers have since expired. The trend toward online “live” courses appears to be here to stay, however, and many states do consider a course that is taken online but live, in real time and with the ability to interact with the instructor as a live course. These types of courses would not be applied to the online limit. The online limit typically includes activities such as recorded webinars or readings that you may complete at any time.

Renewal Cycles

When are these CEUs due? That also depends. You might assume the CEUs are due at the same time as your license renewal. Often, that is the case. For many states, license renewal is required annually and CEUs are due at the same time. Others require both every two years. But, there are states that require license renewal annually and CEU reporting only every two years. First renewals may also be different from subsequent renewals. Some states don’t require any if you are licensed by examination (meaning you likely just recently finished school and this is your first license ever). Some don’t require any even if you are licensed by endorsement (meaning you already have a license in one state and are now applying for another). Some are prorated depending on what point in the renewal cycle you are licensed.

Renewal Dates

Last, but not least, you can’t always assume everyone in a state is required to renew their license at the same time. While this is true in many states, others may require you renew based on your birth date, license number, first letter of your last name, or the date you were initially licensed. If you are already licensed in a certain state, you can find this date on your license renewal form from your state board. You can also find it on the board website under the 'Verify a License' section. If you are looking for general information, it is always best to check the state's rules and regulations documents. You might also find this information on the state board’s website under 'Renewals' or 'Continuing Education Requirements'. The link to each state board website and some general information for each state is available on our Physical Therapy CEU requirements page.

What Does This Mean For You?

The bottom line is just like the one you learned in Physical Therapy school, it depends. Everything related to CEU requirements and license expiration and renewal is state dependent. When in doubt, you should always refer to a state's rule and regulations documents or contact the board directly. Staying in compliance and tracking your PT CEUs may seem complicated. With our physical therapy CEU tracker, it doesn’t have to be! Save time, save money and stay organized with a CEU Keeper plan that works for you!