State Continuing Education Requirements for Physicians and Dentists, Including Requirements Related to Pain Management and Controlled Substance Prescribing

Abstract

States often require prescribers to undergo continuing education (CE) activities in specific areas of public health concern. Such requirements are of particular interest in the context of the opioid epidemic. In this article, we describe the prevalence and characteristics of state-level subject-specific CE requirements for physicians and dentists, with a focus on CE related to pain management/controlled substance prescribing. We reviewed individual state medical board websites and additional related information to obtain data on state subject-specific CE requirements applicable to physicians and dentists in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. Our results show that 32 states (63%) have at least one subject-specific CE requirement on any topic for physicians and 30 states (59%) have such requirements for dentists. Twenty-nine states (57%) have pain management/controlled substance prescribing CE requirements for at least some physicians, and 13 states (25%) have similar requirements for dentists. However, pain management/controlled substance CE is required of all professionals for license renewal in only 10 states (20%) for physicians and in only six states (12%) for dentists. Typically, these are no more than three hours in duration. The majority of states have subject-specific CE requirements for physicians and dentists. Many states require CE to address pain management/controlled substance prescribing, but few do so for all professionals at renewal. These requirements are of limited duration and are not in addition to the overall number of CE hours required for licensure. This analysis suggests steps that states without relevant CE requirements might take to help combat the opioid crisis.