Licensure Requirements

UConn Health Medical Staff Member

The State of Connecticut requires continuing medical education as a condition of maintaining a license to practice medicine in the state. Among other important details, the Department of Public Health expects physicians to obtain a certain number of CME hours in specified topic areas. Please review the full Public Act to ensure adherence. Additional information may be obtained at the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) website.

 

Brief Overview of the Connecticut Statute CME Requirements

What we provide below are general rules about CME required for licensure. Please note that when you sign your application for license renewal, you are also attesting to the fact that you have met the requirements below. Please be sure that you have indeed done so. It is your responsibility to always confirm any current rules or requirements directly from the at the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) website.

  • CME are required by the state for re-licensure: SABA training courses are internal to UConn Health and have nothing to do with this external re-licensure requirement. However, through the CME office, we do offer an approved CME journal-based activity which you can access here UConn Health Journal-Based CME.
  • Number of Hours: A licensed physician applying for renewal shall earn a minimum of fifty contact hours of qualifying continuing medical education within the preceding twenty-four-month period. One contact hour means a minimum of fifty minutes of continuing education activity.
  • Type of Continuing Medical Education: shall be in an area of the physician’s practice, reflect the professional needs of the licensee in order to meet the health care needs of the public and during the first renewal period in which continuing medical education is required and not less than once every six years thereafter, include at least one (1) contact hour of training or education in each of the following topics:
  1.  Infectious Diseases: Including, but not limited to, acquired immune deficiency syndrome and human immunodeficiency virus
  2. Risk Management: including, but not limited to, prescribing controlled substances and pain management, and for registration periods beginning on or after October 1, 2019, such risk management continuing education may also include screening for inflammatory breast cancer and gastrointestinal cancers, including colon, gastric, pancreatic and neuroendocrine cancers and other rare gastrointestinal tumors,
  3. Sexual Assault
  4. Domestic Violence
  5. Cultural Competency
  6. Behavioral Health: provided further that on and after January 1, 2016, such behavioral health continuing medical education may include, but not be limited to, at least two contact hours of training or education during the first renewal period in which continuing education is required and not less than once every six years thereafter, on the topic of mental health conditions common to veterans and family members of veterans, including (i) determining whether a patient is a veteran or family member of a veteran, (ii) screening for conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, risk of suicide, depression and grief, and (iii) suicide prevention training.
  • Qualifying continuing medical education activities include: but are not limited to, courses offered or approved by the American Medical Association , American Osteopathic Association, Connecticut Hospital Association , Connecticut State Medical Society, Connecticut Osteopathic Medical Society, county medical societies or equivalent organizations in other jurisdictions, educational offerings sponsored by a hospital or other health care institution or courses offered by a regionally accredited academic institution or a state or local health department.
  • For more information on Waivers, Documentation, Exemptions, Return to Active Practice Following Exemption, Reinstatement of a Lapsed License, the additional information may be obtained at the Connecticut Department of Public Health (DPH) website.

 

FAQ

Q. Will the UConn Health Medical Staff Office (MSO) or the UConn Health CME office track my CME?

A. No. The MSO or the CME office will not check for your special courses, nor track your CME. At the time of your medical staff membership renewal you will be asked to submit all of your certificates, or, alternatively, a list of all your CME activity and credit, so that the MSO can verify that you have 50 hours since last reappointment (a requirement for membership as prescribed in the Bylaws). If you wish to send your certificates to the MSO as you accumulate them, you may do so and MSO will keep a file. Our recommendation is that you keep a backup copy of each certificate and that you create a spreadsheet that shows a running total for the relevant time period and contains the name and source of the activity. A column to indicate the type of activity will help stay organized (e.g., ‘Risk’, ‘Infectious Disease’, ‘General Medicine’, etc.

Q. What about the activity assigned through SABA?

A. Unrelated. SABA is an internal training application, keeping you compliant with both internal policies and external mandates. It is not related to CME.

Q. Obtaining CME related to my specialty is easy, but where can I find CME that qualify for these extra topics required by the state?

A. The DPH synopsis on prescribing control substances (Appendix B) has some suggestions/links for that specific topic. Be sure you read the law regarding CPMRS while you look at that page.

Q. Can I get my special topics CME here at UConn Health?

A. YES! The Office of Continuing Medical Education has provided a website specifically for you to acquire CME in the special areas carved out for licensure renewal. This site makes it easy! And finally, keep an eye on the local grand rounds conferences. CME credits are available, and they may, from time to time, cover a required subject. Click here: UConn Health Journal-Based CME.

 

Last Reviewed & Updated: December 1, 2021