Florida physician (MD) CME requirements for license renewal

This guide covers physicians licensed under Chapter 458, Florida Statutes (MDs, regulated by the Florida Board of Medicine). Osteopathic physicians have a different set of rules — see the Florida DO guide.

The short version

Requirement	Hours	How often	Who
Total CME	40	Every two-year renewal cycle	Every MD (first renewal is different — see below)
Prevention of medical errors	2	Every renewal	Every MD
Prescribing controlled substances	2	Every renewal	MDs registered with the DEA
Domestic violence	2	Every third renewal	Every MD
HIV/AIDS	1	Once, by the first renewal	Newly licensed MDs
Human trafficking	1	One time (the statute's deadline was January 1, 2021)	See below

The mandatory-topic hours count toward the 40; they are not added on top.

How many hours, and what kind

Section 456.013(6), Florida Statutes, and Rule 64B8-13.005 require 40 hours of Board-approved CME in the 24 months before each biennial renewal. For a license that expires January 31, 2027, that is February 1, 2025 through January 31, 2027. Hours do not carry over to the next cycle.

Rule 64B8-13.005(5) lists the courses the Board approves:

• courses approved for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ or accepted for the AMA Physician's Recognition Award;
• postgraduate training programs accredited by the ACGME;
• American College of Emergency Physicians Category I, American Academy of Family Physicians Prescribed credit, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists cognates, and study courses required by those specialty boards (as approved by the Board) for sitting for specialty recertification examinations.

So AAFP Prescribed credit counts toward the 40 hours. The rule's sentence "Only Category I hours shall be accepted" sits in the HIV/AIDS paragraph and applies to that one-hour course, not to the whole 40. The rule also gives limited risk-management or ethics credit for attending Board disciplinary hearings, serving as a volunteer expert witness, supervising or monitoring a disciplined physician, and up to 5 hours for approved pro bono services.

When your license expires

Florida MD licenses renew every two years and expire at midnight Eastern Time on January 31:

• Group 1 licenses expire January 31 of even-numbered years (the next is January 31, 2028).
• Group 2 licenses expire January 31 of odd-numbered years (the next is January 31, 2027).

The Board's renewal page links to a lookup where you can confirm your own expiration date.

The mandatory topics

Prevention of medical errors — 2 hours, every renewal

Required by section 456.013(7), Florida Statutes, and Rule 64B8-13.005(1)(c). The course must cover root-cause analysis, error reduction and prevention, and patient safety, and must include information on the five most misdiagnosed conditions during the previous biennium as determined by the Board. The rule currently names them as oncology, gastroenterology, cardiology, infectious disease and neurology related conditions. The course counts if it is approved by any state or federal government agency, a nationally affiliated professional association, or any provider of AMA Category I or II CME. One hour of a two-hour course given by a Chapter 395 licensed facility (for example, a hospital) to its own employees may count toward it. See the medical errors guide.

Prescribing controlled substances — 2 hours, every renewal (DEA registrants)

Required by section 456.0301, Florida Statutes, of every physician registered with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and authorized to prescribe controlled substances. The Department may not renew the license of a DEA registrant who has not completed it. Rule 64B8-13.005(1)(d) approves the course only from the providers it names; a course from any other provider does not satisfy it, even if it carries Category 1 credit. Since July 1, 2026 (CS/SB 844, Chapter 2026-6), the course must also cover the treatment of pain for patients with sickle cell disease. See the controlled substance guide.

Domestic violence — 2 hours, every third renewal

Required by section 456.031, Florida Statutes, and Rule 64B8-13.005(1)(a). The course must include how many patients in your practice are likely to be victims or perpetrators of domestic violence, screening procedures, and how to give patients information on or refer them to local resources. It counts if it is approved by any state or federal government agency, a nationally affiliated professional association, or any provider of AMA Category I or II CME; home study courses from those sources are acceptable. Whether it is due in your current cycle depends on your own renewal history — the Board points you to your course history in CE Broker.

HIV/AIDS — 1 hour, by the first renewal

At the first renewal, Rule 64B8-13.005(1)(b) requires one hour of AMA Category I CME on HIV/AIDS (modes of transmission, infection control, epidemiology, related infections including TB, clinical management, prevention, and current Florida law on AIDS and its effect on testing, confidentiality of results and treatment). The course must clearly show that it includes the Florida law content. It is not required at later renewals.

Human trafficking — 1 hour, one time

Section 456.0341(1), Florida Statutes, says: "By January 1, 2021, each licensee or certificateholder shall complete a board-approved … 1-hour continuing education course on human trafficking." The hour counts toward the 40. The statute sets no other deadline and is not tied to a renewal, and the Board of Medicine's renewal page does not list it among the courses needed to renew. The Florida Medical Association describes it as a one-time requirement and reported in 2024 that the Department of Health had contacted licensees with no recorded completion. If you were licensed after January 1, 2021, the statute's text does not say when, or whether, you must complete it.

Your first renewal

The Board's renewal page says that "for the first renewal, an applicant needs only to have completed courses on HIV/AIDS, on preventing medical errors, and on prescribing controlled substances (for DEA-registered doctors)." You are not held to the full 40 hours at that renewal.

Reporting: CE Broker

The Florida Department of Health tracks continuing education through CE Broker, and under section 456.0361, Florida Statutes, it may not renew a license until the CE requirements are met. Florida Board-approved providers must report completions within 30 days (Rule 64B-5.002). For courses approved by a nationally recognized organization — for example, an out-of-state AMA PRA Category 1 or AAFP Prescribed activity — you report the hours yourself; self-reporting is free, and the Board notes that a free Basic Account shows your course history. Keep your certificates for at least 4 years from the date you took the course (Rule 64B8-13.005(3)); the Board or Department can ask for them.

Checklist before you renew

1. Log in to CE Broker and check your transcript shows 40 hours for this cycle (or the first-renewal courses).
2. Confirm the 2-hour medical errors course is recorded.
3. If you hold a DEA registration, confirm the 2-hour controlled substance course is from a provider named in Rule 64B8-13.005.
4. Check whether domestic violence is due this cycle.
5. Renew before midnight Eastern Time on January 31 of your renewal year.

Requirements change. This guide was checked against the sources below on October 6, 2026; confirm with the Board before you rely on it.