New Hampshire physician (MD and DO) CME requirements for license renewal

This guide covers physicians licensed by the New Hampshire Board of Medicine, which licenses both MDs and DOs (Med 102.05 defines a physician as "a doctor of medicine or a doctor of osteopathy"). Renewals are handled by the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification (OPLC). Both degrees follow the same statute, RSA 329:16-g, and the same rules, Med 402.

One caution first. The Board readopted its Med 400 rules (license renewal and continuing education) with amendments effective September 6, 2026 (filing #14644). The amended text was not yet published where we could read it. The facts below come from the statutes and from the version of Med 402 published online, which predates that readoption. The 100 hours and the opioid hours are set by statute; confirm the other details with the Board.

The short version

Requirement	Hours	How often	Who
Total CME	100	Every two-year license term	Every MD and DO
Category I minimum (within the 100)	40 (no more than 60 Category II)	Every renewal	Every MD and DO
Pain management and addiction disorder (within the 100)	3	Every renewal, and for initial licensure	Physicians with a DEA number who must register with the state prescription monitoring program
License expires	2 years from the date it was issued or renewed	Every two years	Every MD and DO

How many hours, and what kind

RSA 329:16-g requires each licensee to show, at every biennial renewal, completion of "100 hours of approved continuing medical education program within the preceding 2 years." Med 402.01(a) adds the split: "40 hours of which shall be in Category I, and no more than 60 credit hours of which shall be in Category II."

Category I means courses that "satisfy the current requirements of the American Medical Association's Physician's Recognition Award program (PRA)," or "which are fully equivalent to these requirements and satisfy the CME requirements of the New Hampshire Osteopathic Association" (Med 402.01(b)). AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ counts. AOA Category 1-A credit is not named, but should count through the osteopathic equivalence clause.

AAFP Prescribed credit is not named in the statute or the rules. The AMA accepts AAFP Prescribed credit as equivalent to AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, so it should count toward the Category I hours, but confirm with the Board if most of your hours are AAFP Prescribed.

Category II (Med 402.01(j)–(n)) covers CME lectures not designated Category I, teaching, presenting or publishing a scientific paper (10 hours each), self-instruction and journal reading, patient-care review, self-assessment exams, and documented "meritorious learning experiences."

Other credit the Board accepts (Med 402.01):

• Residency or fellowship: each year of full-time ACGME or AOA residency, or accredited U.S. fellowship, counts as 50 Category I hours.
• Degree: completing a degree in a medically related field counts as 25 Category I hours.
• Specialty boards: passing an American specialty board exam, initial or recertification, counts as 100 Category I hours.
• Maintenance of certification: being up to date on a program the Board deems adequate satisfies the requirement for the preceding two years.

Nothing in the statute or rules lets you carry extra hours into the next term.

When your license expires

Since OPLC took over licensing, RSA 310:8, II says licenses "shall be valid for 2 years from the date of issuance," and that this term overrides conflicting board statutes. OPLC's rule Plc 308.01 says the same. So your license expires on the date printed on it, two years after it was issued or last renewed.

The Board's older rules (Med 401.01 and 401.02) still say licenses expire on July 1 and renewals are due by June 30 of the renewal year. Those dates conflict with RSA 310:8, so go by the expiration date on your license and confirm with the Board.

Under Plc 308.05(a), you may file "not more than 60 days prior to the expiration of the license but on or before the expiration date." An expired license lapses one year after expiration (RSA 310:8, III).

The mandatory topic

Pain management and addiction disorder — 3 hours, every renewal

RSA 318-B:41, VI requires prescribers "required to register with the controlled drug prescription health and safety program … who possess a United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) license number" to "complete 3 contact hours of free appropriate prescriber's regulatory board-approved online continuing education or pass an online examination, in the area of pain management and addiction disorder or a combination, as a condition for initial licensure and license renewal."

Under Med 402.01(p), a course counts if it is AMA PRA Category 1 or ACCME accredited and it references "opioid prescribing for the management or treatment of pain or opioid use disorders in the course abstract and learning objectives." The statute's wording ("free," "board-approved," "online") is narrower than the rule's, so confirm with the Board before relying on a paid or in-person course. The 3 hours count toward the 100.

Federal requirement

The federal DEA requires a one-time 8-hour training on treating and managing patients with opioid or other substance use disorders (the MATE Act) when you first register or renew a DEA registration. It is a federal requirement, separate from New Hampshire's rules.

No other topic is required by the current statutes or rules.

Your first renewal

Neither the statute nor Med 402 waives or prorates CME at the first renewal. If you were previously licensed in another state, you "may continue to take continuing medical education courses in accordance with a previously established PRA renewal cycle" (Med 402.01(d)). If you came from residency, each training year counts as 50 Category I hours. The opioid hours apply at initial licensure and every renewal. Plan on the full 100 hours and confirm with the Board.

Reporting and audits

You attest on the online OPLC renewal that you met the continuing competence requirements (Plc 308.05(b)(3)). OPLC rules require licensees to "use the on-line system to track and report the completion of continuing competence activities" (Plc 308.04(b)). The New Hampshire Medical Society says that system is CE Broker; confirm in your OPLC account.

OPLC audits 10% of licensees renewing in a given year (Plc 308.04(d)). Keep documentation "for the longer of the time specified in applicable law or the current license term and most recent renewal period" (Plc 308.04(c)), which in practice means about four years.

The older Board rule, Med 402.02, still describes a paper CME report due February 28 and audits by the New Hampshire Medical Society. The OPLC process now governs.

If illness, a death in the family or another reason beyond your control kept you from finishing, you can petition for a waiver before the two-year CME period ends; if approved, the Board allows up to a six-month extension (Med 402.03).

Checklist before you renew

1. Find the expiration date on your license; your CME window is the two years before it.
2. Count 100 hours, at least 40 of them Category I (AMA PRA Category 1 or equivalent).
3. If you hold a DEA number, make sure 3 of those hours are on pain management and addiction disorder.
4. Report your CE in OPLC's online tracking system and keep certificates about four years.
5. Renew online through OPLC in the 60 days before expiration.

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