Connecticut § 20-12j - Physician assistant license renewal. Continuing education requirements.

§ 20-12j. Physician assistant license renewal. Continuing education requirements.

Sec. 20-12j. Physician assistant license renewal. Continuing education requirements. (a) As used in this section:

(1) “Contact hour” means a minimum of fifty minutes of continuing education and activities; and

(2) “Registration period” means the one-year period for which a license has been renewed in accordance with section 19a-88 and is current and valid.

(b) Each person holding a license as a physician assistant shall, annually, during the month of such person's birth, renew such license with the Department of Public Health, upon payment of a fee of one hundred fifty-five dollars, on a form to be provided by the department for such purpose, giving such person's name in full, such person's residence and business address and such other information as the department requests. No such license shall be renewed unless the department is satisfied that the practitioner (1) has met the mandatory continuing medical education requirements of the National Commission on Certification of Physician Assistants or a successor organization for the certification or recertification of physician assistants that may be approved by the department; (2) has passed any examination or continued competency assessment the passage of which may be required by said commission for maintenance of current certification by said commission; (3) has completed not less than one contact hour of training or education in prescribing controlled substances and pain management in the preceding two-year period; and (4) for registration periods beginning on and after January 1, 2022, during the first renewal period and not less than once every six years thereafter, earn not less than two contact hours of training or education screening for post-traumatic stress disorder, risk of suicide, depression and grief and suicide prevention training administered by the American Academy of Physician Associates, or the American Academy of Physician Associates' successor organization, a hospital or other licensed health care institution or a regionally accredited institution of higher education.

(c) Each physician assistant applying for license renewal pursuant to section 19a-88 shall sign a statement attesting that he or she has satisfied the continuing education requirements of subsection (b) of this section on a form prescribed by the Department of Public Health. Each licensee shall retain records of attendance or certificates of completion that demonstrate compliance with the continuing education requirements of subsection (b) of this section for a minimum of three years following the year in which the continuing education was completed and shall submit such records or certificates to the department for inspection not later than forty-five days after a request by the department for such records or certificates.

(P.A. 21-46, S. 2; 21-121, S. 93; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 21-2, S. 199; P.A. 22-58, S. 20; 22-92, S. 19.)

History: P.A. 21-46 effective July 1, 2021; P.A. 21-121 deleted provisions in Subsec. (b) re registration periods and license renewal and substituted provisions re license renewal and education requirements, effective July 1, 2021; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 21-2 amended Subsec. (b) by replacing “one hundred fifty dollars” with “one hundred fifty-five dollars”, effective July 1, 2021; P.A. 22-58 amended Subsec. (b) by replacing “register” with “renew such license”, “blanks” with “a form” and “furnished” with “provided” and replacing “on or before” with “on and after” and “American Association of Physician Assistants” with “American Academy of Physician Associates, or the American Academy of Physician Associates' successor organization” in Subdiv. (4), effective May 23, 2022; P.A. 22-92 amended Subsec. (c) by making a technical change, effective May 24, 2022.