Clinicians today are responsible for completing a certain number of CME credit hours per year in the states they wish to be licensed in. This can appear simple and easy to complete for clinicians. Unfortunately, the requirements for each state in terms of CME vary significantly from year to year. Some states also have higher CME hour requirements than others, which can lead to a heavy course load for many individuals. If an individual has medical licenses in many states such as in telemedicine/telehealth, the process becomes even more annoying when the deadlines are not the same and when there are overlapping topics that need to be covered. To shed some real-world experience on this topic, we will be discussing a few examples and hurdles of the CME some clinicians have to take to keep up with their requirements.

For example, let’s take into account an individual that wishes to be licensed in the following states: Kentucky, Nebraska, Georgia, Florida, Iowa, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Tennessee, New Jersey, and South Carolina.

In just Florida alone it is required that an individual must complete 40 credit hours of CME for a 2-year license, 2 credit hours in medical error every 2 years, 1 credit hour in human trafficking every 2 years, 2 credits in domestic violence every 6 years, and 2 credit hours in controlled substance prescribing every 2 years. Now that doesn’t seem so bad at the moment. But now let us look into other states such as Kentucky.

Kentucky requires 60 credit hours of AMA category 1 CME every 3 years, 4.5 credit hours in controlled substance prescribing every 3 years, 3 credit hours in domestic violence one time, 1 credit hour in pediatric abusive head trauma one time. Notice how there is a significant overlap between the courses of just two states already? This pattern continues, and to make things more confusing, the due dates are not standardized across the states. Florida’s CME is due 1/31/2021 and Kentucky’s is due 2/29/2020. The rest of the provided states all have varying due dates as well that are not consistent, with New Jersey being that latest with a due date of 6/30/2021. If every state has varying due dates, and overlapping course requirements, it’s easy to see why this can process can be very confusing and stressful to clinicians.

The difference in due date timelines and similar course overlap is likely a factor in clinicians practicing in just a few states to minimize the stress that’s involved in maintaining their CME. Another example is an individual who wishes to just be licensed in Colorado and Wyoming. Just for Colorado, 40 credit hours of CE are required for a 2-year license and no more than 20 credit hours of a single PDA or category are accepted every 2 years. The due date for these is 08/31/2020. For Wyoming, 45 credit hours are required for a 2-year license and 3 credit hours shall be in ethics every 2 years. The due date for these is listed as 12/31/2021. Although these dates are still not standardized, the large gap between deadlines does allow for more flexibility and can be more easily managed than an individual wishing to be licensed in states. However, this does not imply that those who are licensed in fewer states all have an easier time managing their CE, it can still be very complex for individuals maintaining 2-3 instead of 5+ licenses. Hence, the point being that CE requirements can vary drastically from state to state, making keeping track of completed and pending CE very difficult for clinicians.

At ACEA, we strive to make CE a positive experience for everyone involved, thankfully there is a solution that will help relieve the stress associated with gathering all of the CE requirements and deadlines from multiple states. The CE App Elite helps save time for clinicians associated with administrative tasks, and the service tracks certificates CE/CME automatically, counts up requirements, sends renewal reminders, and curates relevant content to fulfill whatever is left. By automating CE, it allows for a more simplified process for clinicians and relieves the stress associated with finding and maintaining CE requirements.