Pennsylvania Physician Assistants CE Requirements, Accreditations & Approvals

Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine accepts courses from any provider who is ACCME-accredited and awards AMA PRA Category 1 Credit ™.

Continuing Education Requirement

PAs and OPAs must maintain certification through the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA) every two years. In accordance with Act 31 of 2014, PAs must complete 2 hours of approved child abuse recognition and reporting training every renewal.* Licensees with prescriptive authority, as a condition of license renewal, are required 2 hours in pain management, the identification of addiction or the practices of prescribing or dispensing of opioids.

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.

As a one-time requirement for initial licensure, and in accordance with Act 31 of 2014, all PAs and OPAs must complete 3 hours of approved child abuse recognition and reporting training.*

Within one year of issuance of prescriptive authority all PAs and OPAs have a one-time requirement of 4 hours: 2 of which must be in pain management or addiction, and 2 in the practices of prescribing or dispensing opioids.

* NetCE's course on child abuse recognition and reporting training is approved for both initial licensure and renewal of license.

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All Accreditations and Approvals
PA License Renewal Instructions
OPA License Renewal Instructions

For More Information

Please contact the Pennsylvania State Board of Medicine at (717) 783-1400 or the Pennsylvania State Board of Osteopathic Medicine at (717) 783-4858, and refer to https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/dos/department-and-offices/bpoa/boards-commissions/medicine.html - PAs; or https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/dos/department-and-offices/bpoa/boards-commissions/osteopathic-medicine/renewal-information.html - OPAs; 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/.

For additional information regarding child abuse recognition and reporting training please visit https://www.pa.gov/en/agencies/dos/resources/professional-licensing-resources/act-31.html.