West Virginia Physical Therapy CE Requirements (2026): 24 Hours Every 2 Years
Requirements Overview
Under the West Virginia Board of Physical Therapy's Legislative Rule §16-1-101, physical therapists and physical therapist assistants must complete 24 units of board-approved continuing education (one unit equals one clock hour, so no CCU conversion applies) within each 2-year licensing period to remain active and in good standing. Any hours earned beyond the requirement do not carry over into the next cycle, so surplus credits are lost once the period resets.
The rule does not require specific mandatory topics like ethics or jurisprudence, but courses must be board-approved: coursework from CAPTE-accredited schools, the APTA, and the WVPTA is automatically accepted, while other providers can request individual review. Volunteer licensees need only 20 hours, and licenses reinstated after a lapse of six months or less need just 6 hours for that year. New graduates are exempt from CE in their graduation year, and the Board can grant a waiver for illness, disability, or hardship if requested in time.
Renewal Pathways
Exemptions
- New Graduate Current Year — A new graduate does not need continuing education hours for the current year of graduation.
- Illness Disability Hardship Waiver — The Board may grant a waiver of the CE requirement for illness, disability, or undue hardship. A request-for-waiver form (with a physician's statement, for illness/disability) must be received by the Board no later than October 1 of the year preceding the renewal date. A waiver is granted for at most 1 renewal cycle and must be re-requested if the condition continues into the next cycle. For illness/disability waivers, the Board may require documentation verifying competency/ability to practice before return to active practice.
How You Can Complete Your CE
West Virginia CE Rules & Limits
Details specific to West Virginia that generic CE guides tend to miss:
- Carry-over — Accumulated CEUs may NOT be carried over from one 2-year renewal period to the next; all 24 units must be earned fresh within each licensing period.
- A CE 'unit' is defined as exactly 1 clock hour (§16-1-101.1), so total hours (24) is a direct contact-hour figure with no CCU/point conversion involved.
- License expiration is ANNUAL (December 31 each year, §16-1-5.2), but the 24-unit CE requirement is tracked over a rolling 2-year licensing/renewal period (§16-1-101.2), not tied 1:1 to the annual expiration date.
- No CE carry-over is allowed between renewal periods (§16-1-101.2.c) -- unused/excess hours do not roll forward.
- Reduced/alternate fixed totals exist for volunteer licensees (20 units/2-yr cycle, §16-1-101.2.b) and for reinstatement of a license lapsed 6 months or less (6 units 'for that year', §16-1-101.2.a); a new graduate does not need CE hours for the current year of graduation (§16-1-101.2.d). Licensees who fail to complete the 24 units within the license period are placed on delinquent status and subject to delinquent-status fees (§16-1-101.2).
- Alternative credit-earning methods, all under §16-1-101.3: (a) clinical instruction + competency/practice-review tools combined capped at 8 units per license period; (b) passing an ABPTS specialty exam/recertification or the HTCC certification exam awards the FULL 24 contact hours in the year taken; (c) completing an APTA-credentialed residency or fellowship awards the full 24 contact hours in the year completed; (d) completing an FSBPT practice review tool awards 8 contact hours, usable no more than once every other renewal period; (e) providing clinical instruction to a CAPTE-program PT/PTA student awards up to 8 units/year (4 weeks of instruction = 1 unit); (f)-(g) standard courses earn 1 unit per instruction hour, with automatic approval for CAPTE/APTA/WVPTA-sponsored courses; a CE course instructor can also earn 1 unit per hour of the class they teach, granted only once per course.
- Illness/disability/hardship waiver process (§16-1-101.4): waiver request form due to the Board no later than October 1 of the year preceding the renewal date; physician's statement required for illness/disability; waiver covers at most 1 renewal cycle and must be renewed if the condition persists; the Board may require competency documentation before the licensee returns to active practice.
- Audit (secondary source, ce_page): in February of each calendar year, 10% of active PT/PTA licensees are randomly selected for a CE audit; licensees with unapproved courses or insufficient hours are in violation of §16-1-101 and fail the audit, and must complete a CE audit agreement with remedial actions to remain active. Licensees must truthfully attest on the renewal request that CE requirements have been fulfilled.
- The official CE web page (wvbopt.wv.gov) cites the CE rule as 'Legislative Rule §16-1-10', but the actual downloaded Legislative Rule document (from the WV Secretary of State's Code of State Rules repository) contains the continuing education requirement at §16-1-101 ('Continuing Education'); §16-1-101 was treated as the authoritative section citation since it is the verbatim rule text, and the CE page's '§16-1-10' appears to be an abbreviated/truncated citation.
- This section of the rule document (§16-1-101 and its neighbors) contains some internal section-numbering irregularities in the official source itself (e.g., a stray '§16-5-6' heading appearing inside the Series 1 document, and a final subsection labeled '11.5' instead of '101.5'); these are transcribed exactly as they appear in the official document and do not affect the substance of the CE requirement quoted here.
- PTAs are subject to the identical 24-unit CE requirement, cycle, carry-over prohibition, and alternative-credit rules as PTs under §16-1-101; the rule does not distinguish between PT and PTA for continuing education purposes.
Provider Requirements
CE courses generally require Board approval. Courses sponsored by CAPTE-accredited colleges/universities, the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA), or the West Virginia Physical Therapy Association (WVPTA) are automatically approved and need not be submitted for review (also corroborated by the CE page, which additionally lists BOC-sponsored courses as automatically approved). Other course providers may submit a course to the Board for review, or a licensee may request individual approval of a specific course by emailing the Board ([email protected]) with their name, license number, and a request for the individual licensee CE review form.
Tips for West Virginia PTs
- Upload CE certificates before renewal, and if you've taken several courses from the same provider (for example, Medbridge), combine them into a single upload with the total hours listed rather than submitting each certificate separately.
- Track your 24 hours as you complete them rather than front-loading extra credits in one year -- West Virginia does not allow CE hours to carry over into the next 2-year licensing period.
- Favor courses sponsored by a CAPTE-accredited school, the APTA, the WVPTA, or BOC when possible, since those are automatically board-approved and skip the individual course-review step.
- Keep your certificates and course records even after you attest to completing your hours -- the Board randomly audits 10% of active PT/PTA licensees every February and requires proof for any audited course.
- If illness, disability, or hardship will prevent you from finishing your hours, submit the CE waiver request form (with a physician's statement for illness or disability) by October 1 of the year before your renewal -- late requests fall outside the rule's window.
Sources
Each figure on this page is taken directly from the West Virginia Board of 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.