Iowa Physician Assistants CE Requirements, Accreditations & Approvals

Iowa Physician Assistants

In support of improving patient care, NetCE is jointly accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME), the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE), and the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC), to provide continuing education for the healthcare team.

As a jointly accredited provider, NetCE is authorized to award Category 1 CME Credit to physician assistants certified through the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA).

The Iowa Board of Physician Assistants accepts courses from any provider who is ACCME-accredited and awards AMA PRA Category 1 Credit ™.

Continuing Education Requirement

PAs are required 100 hours every two years, 50 of which must be AMA PRA Category 1 Credit ™, or must maintain certification through the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants (NCCPA). Mandates include:

• Licensees who have prescribed opioids during the previous licensing period are required to complete 2 hours regarding the CDC Guidelines for prescribing opioids for chronic pain every two years.
• All licensees who are mandatory reporters are required 2 hours in identifying and reporting abuse of children and/or 2 hours in identifying and reporting abuse of dependent adults, unless exempt. For all subsequent renewals, licensees are required 1 hour of recertification training every three years.*

Beginning with DEA initial registrations or renewals starting June 27, 2023, all DEA-registered practitioners (with the exception of DVM-only license holders) are required 8 hours on treating and managing patients with opioid or other substance use disorders, including the appropriate clinical use of all FDA-approved drugs for the treatment of a substance use disorder, one-time only.

* The initial 2 hours must be completed within the first six months of employment/self-employment, and the 1-hour recertification course will be available in 2022. All mandatory reporter training may only be completed through the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services. See training here: https://hhs.iowa.gov/report-abuse-fraud/mandatory-reporters.

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License Renewal Instructions

For More Information

Please contact the Iowa Board of Physician Assistants at (515) 281-0254, and refer to https://dial.iowa.gov/about/boards/physician-assistants and https://www.legis.iowa.gov/docs/iac/chapter/11-15-2023.645.328.pdf for additional information regarding your continuing education.

For additional information regarding NCCPA's continuing education requirement please access their website at https://www.nccpa.net/maintain-certification/continuing-medical-education/.