Florida Physical Therapy CE Requirements (2026): 24 Hours Every 2 Years
Requirements Overview
The Florida Board of Physical Therapy Practice (Rule 64B17-9.001, F.A.C.) sets a 24-hour continuing education requirement for every PT and PTA license under Chapter 486, F.S., tied to the state's two-year renewal cycle. At least 12 hours must come from live lecture or an interactive webinar; up to 12 hours may be self-paced study with a completion certificate and exam.
Two topics are legally mandated: 1 hour of HIV/AIDS education, due once by your first renewal, and 2 hours of Prevention of Medical Errors, required every biennium — both apply even under the first-renewal exemption. Licensees licensed in the second half of a biennium owe only those 3 hours at their first renewal, not the full 24.
Florida's rule has no carry-over provision; unused hours don't roll forward. Risk-management coursework is capped at 5 hours per biennium, and CE compliance is tracked electronically via the Department's CE Broker system.
Mandatory Topics
| Topic | Hours | Frequency | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prevention of Medical Errors | 2 | Every renewal | Two contact hours every biennium covering root-cause analysis, error reduction/prevention, and patient safety (documentation/communication, contraindications/indications, and pharmacological components). Up to 1 of the 2 hours may come from a Ch. 395 licensed facility's own error-reduction training. Required even for licensees who otherwise qualify for the first-renewal CE exemption. |
| HIV/AIDS Education | 1 | First renewal | One contact hour required no later than the licensee's first biennial renewal (a one-time requirement, not repeated at every renewal thereafter). Coursework completed within 5 years preceding initial licensure at an accredited PT school may satisfy it. Must cover modes of transmission, infection control, clinical management, prevention, and Florida law on AIDS testing/confidentiality/treatment. Required even for licensees who otherwise qualify for the first-renewal CE exemption. |
First Renewal vs. Standard Renewal
Exemptions
- First Renewal Second Half Licensure — Applicants who become licensed in the second half of the biennium are exempt from the full 24-hour CE requirement for their first renewal.Still must complete the 2-hour Prevention of Medical Errors course and the 1-hour HIV/AIDS course for that first renewal.
- Emergency Or Hardship Waiver — The Board may waive all or part of the CE requirement, or grant a time extension, upon a written request showing good cause (long-term personal/family illness or care-giving responsibility; required course(s) not reasonably available; or other demonstrated economic, technological, or legal hardship), decided by majority Board vote at a public meeting.Requires documented evidence supporting the emergency/hardship claim; granted case-by-case, not automatic.
How You Can Complete Your CE
Florida CE Rules & Limits
Details specific to Florida that generic CE guides tend to miss:
- No CCU/point-system conversion applies -- Florida PT CE is measured directly in 'contact hours' (1 contact hour = 50 clock minutes; 0.5 contact hour = 25 clock minutes). Ten contact hours equal one Continuing Education Unit (CEU), but total hours is recorded directly in contact hours (24), matching how the rule itself states the requirement.
- Format split: of the 24 total hours, a minimum of 12 hours must be formal live lecture or an approved interactive webinar, and a maximum of 12 hours may be self-paced/independent study (requires certificate of completion + exam).
- Subject-area caps: no more than 5 contact hours of risk-management courses may count within a biennium.
- Optional alternative CE credit: a licensee who takes and passes the Florida laws and rules examination (via DOH form DH-MQA 1144) receives 2 hours of CE credit for the biennium in which the exam was passed -- this is an optional route to earn 2 of the 24 hours, not a separate mandatory topic, and is unavailable if the exam was taken due to discipline or as a licensure/reinstatement condition.
- Instructor/clinical-instructor credit: course instructors receive up to 6 contact hours credit per biennium (1:1 with hours presented, excluding their normal course of instruction); credentialed (APTA) clinical instructors receive 1 contact hour per 120 hours of clinical internship supervised, capped at 8 hours per biennium.
- College/university course credit: 1 academic credit hour from an accredited PT program course equals 15 contact hours.
- Record retention: licensees must retain CE completion documentation (receipts, vouchers, certificates) for at least 4 years from the date the CE offering was taken.
- Renewal timing (secondary, web-search-derived, not independently fetched from a quotable board page): Florida PT/PTA licenses are on a biennial cycle expiring November 30 of odd-numbered years (e.g. Nov 30, 2025, 2027); the online renewal option typically becomes available 90-120 days before expiration via the Florida Department of Health's MQA Services / Florida Health Source portal.
- The official CE page (floridasphysicaltherapy.gov/continuing-education-ce/) directs licensees to 'Rule 64B9-5, F.A.C. For additional continuing education information' -- this rule number is chapter 64B9 (Nursing), not the correct PT chapter 64B17, and appears to be a citation error or boilerplate text shared across DOH board pages. The verified, correct rule governing PT CE is Chapter 64B17-9 (Rule 64B17-9.001), confirmed directly against the official Florida Administrative Code rule text.
- The Department of Health's electronic CE tracking system (powered by CE Broker) now reviews CE compliance automatically at the time of online renewal; a free Basic CE Broker account meets reporting requirements, with an optional paid Professional account offering compliance-tracking dashboards.
- PTAs are subject to the same rule (64B17-9.001 applies to 'every person licensed pursuant to Chapter 486, F.S.', which covers both PTs and PTAs) -- no PT/PTA differentiation was found in the CE hour totals, mandatory topics, or format rules.
Provider Requirements
Courses must be Board-approved. Recognized categories include: courses sponsored or approved by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA); courses sponsored or approved by the Florida Physical Therapy Association (FPTA) meeting the live/self-paced criteria; accredited college/university PT program courses (1 college credit hour = 15 contact hours); attendance at Florida Board disciplinary meetings (risk-management credit); former Board members' service on the Probable Cause Panel; and HIV/AIDS or medical-errors courses approved by any Division of Medical Quality Assurance board. Licensees can search/report CE through the Department's CE Broker electronic tracking system (Basic account free; Professional account optional paid).
Tips for Florida PTs
- Split your 24 hours deliberately: at least 12 must be live lecture or an approved interactive webinar, and self-paced/independent-study courses are capped at 12 hours and must include a certificate of completion plus an exam.
- If you were licensed in the second half of the current biennium, your first renewal only requires the 1-hour HIV/AIDS course and the 2-hour Prevention of Medical Errors course (3 hours total) — you don't owe the full 24-hour package yet.
- Complete the 1-hour HIV/AIDS course before your first renewal deadline; it's a one-time requirement. Prevention of Medical Errors (2 hours), by contrast, resets every biennium and never goes away.
- Don't bank on carrying extra hours forward — Florida's CE rule has no carry-over provision, so hours earned beyond 24 in one cycle do not reduce the next cycle's requirement.
- Keep CE certificates for at least 4 years and confirm your completed hours show up in your CE Broker account before renewing, since the Department reviews your electronic CE record automatically at renewal time.
Sources
Each figure on this page is taken directly from the Florida Board of Physical Therapy Practice's official rules and continuing-education sources and recorded with the exact source excerpt. Last verified Jul 2026. Read how we compile and verify this data.