A new law in Colorado will require physicians to complete 30 hours of continuing medical education (CME) credits during the 24 months before they renew, reinstate, or reactivate their medical licenses. The change follows the passage of House Bill HB24-1153, which was signed by Governor Jared Polis on June 4, 2024 and took effect on August 7, 2024.
Under the new requirements, physicians can select CME topics themselves or choose from those specified by the Colorado Medical Board (CMB). The CMB has started a stakeholder process to consider making certain subjects mandatory for CME credit hours. These include health disparities and outcomes data, reproductive, sexual, and gender-based health care, and explicit and implicit bias.
Physicians must confirm on their license renewal forms that they have fulfilled the CME requirement. Up to five percent of physician renewals may be audited each year at random. If selected for audit, doctors must provide proof of completed CME programs and awarded credit hours. Not complying with an audit without reasonable cause is considered unprofessional conduct and will result in the physician’s license becoming inactive until reinstated by the board.
The director of the division of professions and occupations in the department of regulatory agencies may increase existing fees on physician licensure renewals to cover any extra costs linked to implementing these CME requirements.
Physicians who are board certified can use CME credits reported for Maintenance of Certification/Continuing Certification (MOC/CC) recertification toward their Colorado medical license renewal.
Doctors should prepare to meet these updated requirements for the 2027 license renewal cycle.
