California Physician Assistants CE Requirements, Accreditations & Approvals

California Physician Assistants

In support of improving patient care, NetCE is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

As a jointly accredited provider, NetCE is authorized to award Category 1 CME Credit to physician assistants certified through the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).

The Physician Assistant Board of California accepts courses from any provider who is ACCME-accredited and awards AMA PRA Category 1 Credit ™.

Continuing Education Requirement

PAs are required 50 hours of AMA PRA Category 1 Credit ™ continuing education every two years, or must show evidence of certification through the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).

Effective January 1, 2025, Physician Assistants who provide primary care to a patient population 25% or more of which is 65+ years of age shall certify that they have completed at least 20% of all mandatory CE hours in the field of geriatric medicine, the special care needs of patients with dementia, or the care of older patients every two years. (CA SB-639 signed 9/21/2024, CA AB-2270 signed 9/27/2024 eff 1/1/2025).

PAs authorized to prescribe controlled substances are required 6 hours of controlled substance education that includes 3 hours specific to Schedule II substances, one-time only. Effective January 1, 2019, controlled substance education must include the risks of addiction associated with the use of Schedule II controlled substances. Only live courses with proctored exams will meet this requirement.

Beginning with DEA initial registrations or renewals starting June 27, 2023, all DEA-registered practitioners (with the exception of DVM-only license holders) are required 8 hours on treating and managing patients with opioid or other substance use disorders, including the appropriate clinical use of all FDA-approved drugs for the treatment of a substance use disorder, one-time only.

Effective January 1, 2020, PAs who hold a fluoroscopy permit are required 10 hours regarding the application of x-ray to the human body, 4 of which must be in radiation safety for the clinical use of Fluoroscopy.

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For More Information

Please contact the Physician Assistant Board of California at (916) 561-8780, or refer to https://www.pab.ca.gov/ for additional information regarding your continuing education.

For additional information regarding NCCPA's continuing education requirement please access their website at https://www.nccpa.net/maintain-certification/continuing-medical-education.