New York Physical Therapy CE Requirements (2026): 36 Hours Every 3 Years
Requirements Overview
The New York State Education Department's Office of the Professions, under 8 NYCRR 77.10, requires licensed PTs and PTAs to complete 36 contact hours of continuing education every 3-year triennial registration period. Newly licensed practitioners are exempt for their first period, and any shorter period (common right after that first renewal) is prorated at 1 hour per month.
Unlike many states, New York names no mandatory topic: the regulation lists broad acceptable subjects — clinical skills, patient communication, business practices, and health care law/ethics among them — without a required minimum in any single one. Courses must come from a Department-approved sponsor, with no cap on online or self-study hours.
Carry-over is not allowed — excess hours are lost once the next cycle starts. Keep completion records for 6 years, since the Department audits by request rather than upfront submission.
Exemptions
- First Registration Period — Licensees are exempt from continuing education for the triennial registration period during which they are first licensed to practice as a PT or PTA in New York State.
- Inactive Not Practicing — A licensee who is not registered to practice in New York State (i.e. Inactive/not practicing) is exempt from the requirement while inactive, but must meet resumption-of-practice CE requirements before reactivating.Must complete makeup CE under 8 NYCRR 77.10(e) to resume active registration after a lapse.
- Hardship Adjustment — The Department may grant an adjustment (reduction/extension) for good cause preventing compliance: poor health or disability certified by a health care professional, extended active-duty military service, or other good cause beyond the licensee's control.
How You Can Complete Your CE
New York CE Rules & Limits
Details specific to New York that generic CE guides tend to miss:
- New York measures CE directly in contact hours (a minimum of 50 minutes = 1 hour per 8 NYCRR 77.10(h)); no CCU/point system or conversion is used.
- Several third-party CE-seller sites (e.g. FlexTherapistCEUs, ChoosePT1st) advertise a mandatory '3 hours ethics + 3 hours opioid' component for NY PT renewal. This claim does NOT appear anywhere in the official NYSED FAQ (op.nysed.gov) or in the governing regulation 8 NYCRR 77.10, which lists ethics/health-care-law as merely one of six broad ACCEPTABLE subject areas (not a mandated minimum), and names no opioid-specific requirement at all (NY's opioid-education mandate applies to prescribers such as physicians/NPs/PAs under Public Health Law, not to PTs). This is treated as an unverified/likely-conflated claim and is NOT modeled in mandatory topics.
- The optional 2-hour NY PT jurisprudence (laws/rules) knowledge exam is not mandatory -- it is simply one of several ways to earn CE credit (8 NYCRR 77.10(c)(2)(ii)(7)), not a required topic.
- PT and PTA licensees are subject to identical CE hour, exemption, and topic requirements; no PT/PTA distinction is made anywhere in 8 NYCRR 77.10 or the FAQ.
- Licensees are fully exempt from CE during the triennial registration period in which they are first licensed (8 NYCRR 77.10(b)(2)(i)(a)).
- Lapse-in-practice / resumption-of-practice makeup CE is a multi-tiered, formula-based calculation (8 NYCRR 77.10(e)): e.g. A licensee who lapsed and did NOT practice lawfully in another jurisdiction must complete the prior cycle's requirement PLUS 1 hour per month of lapse (capped at 36 hours) in the 12 months before re-registration, PLUS 12 hours in each subsequent 12-month period; a licensee who continued practicing lawfully in another jurisdiction during the lapse instead just completes the regular 36-hour requirement in the new registration period. Because these totals are open-ended/condition-dependent rather than a single fixed number, they are recorded here rather than as a renewal option.
- A 'conditional registration' (valid 1 year, non-renewable) is available for licensees who fall short of their CE requirement, letting them keep practicing while completing 1 hour/month of makeup CE during that year (8 NYCRR 77.10(f)).
- Records of completed CE must be retained for 6 years and produced only on Department audit request; self-reporting forms alone are not acceptable documentation (FAQ #19, #21, #22; 8 NYCRR 77.10(g)).
- Willfully filing a false CE attestation is unprofessional conduct under Section 29.1 of the Rules of the Board of Regents and can result in censure, fines, suspension, or revocation (FAQ #23).
Provider Requirements
Courses/self-study must come from a New York State Education Department (SED)-approved sponsor. SED maintains and publishes a listing of approved providers; other activities (teaching, conference presentation, specialty certification, peer-reviewed publication, and a passing score on the NY PT law/rules knowledge exam) are also acceptable per 8 NYCRR 77.10(c)(2)(ii). Independent/informal study not from an approved provider does not count.
Tips for New York PTs
- Don't assume you need a specific ethics or opioid course — New York's regulation (8 NYCRR 77.10) lists ethics/health-law as one of several acceptable subject areas, not a mandated minimum, despite what some commercial CE-seller sites advertise.
- Confirm your course sponsor is Department-approved before you take it; independent study or informal study groups that aren't run by an approved provider earn zero credit, even if the content is relevant.
- Since all 36 hours can be completed in a single year of your 3-year cycle, front-load your CE if your schedule allows it rather than tracking a strict annual pace.
- If your registration lapses, budget extra time: makeup CE is calculated per a multi-tiered formula in 8 NYCRR 77.10(e) (generally the prior cycle's hours plus 1 hour per month of lapse, capped at 36), not a flat reinstatement number.
- Retain your certificates of completion for 6 years — the Department audits by request rather than requiring upfront submission, and self-reporting forms alone won't satisfy an audit.
Sources
Each figure on this page is taken directly from the New York State Education Department, Office of the Professions (State Board for Physical Therapy)'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.