Naturopathic Doctor CE Requirements
by State
Naturopathic continuing education (CE) is required for NDs to maintain licensure and stay current with medical knowledge and practice standards. The information below outlines credit hours, mandatory topics, and renewal deadlines to simplify compliance.
presented by INM’s Naturopathic Residency Consortium
How Many CE Hours Do Naturopathic Doctors Need in Each State?
(Last updated August 18, 2025)
United States
Alaska
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date, December 31st of even-numbered years.
Required Credit Hours: There are no continuing education requirements specified in the state’s statutes or regulations for naturopathic license renewal.
Arizona
- Renewal Frequency: Annually
- Renewal Period: The renewal cycle is based on the calendar year (January 1 – December 31).
- Required Credit Hours: 30 hours
- Specific Requirements:
- A minimum of 10 credit hours must be in pharmacology.
- A minimum of 8 credit hours must be from programs approved by specific organizations listed in the state regulations.
Source: Arizona Naturopathic Physicians Medical Board – Title 4, Chapter 18
California
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: The renewal cycle is based on the licensee’s birth date. Licenses expire on the last day of the licensee’s birth month every two years. CE must be completed within this two-year period.
- Required Credit Hours: 60 hours
- Specific Requirements:
- A minimum of 20 hours must be in pharmacotherapeutics.
- A maximum of 15 hours may be from journals, audio/video presentations, or similar self-study formats.
- A maximum of 20 hours can be dedicated to any single topic.
Source: California Naturopathic Medicine Committee – CE Requirements
Colorado
- Renewal Frequency: Annually.
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date: June 30th of every year.
- Required Credit Hours: Colorado uses a “Continuing Professional Competency” (CPC) program instead of a standard credit hour system. Licensees must complete 25 “Professional Development Activities” (PDA) each year.
- Specific Requirements:
- The CPC program requires practitioners to complete a self-assessment, establish learning goals, and create a learning plan to meet those goals through the 25 annual PDAs.
- Specific PDAs related to pediatrics are required for those who treat children.
- Alternate CE Terminology: Continuing education is referred to as Continuing Professional Competency (CPC), which is satisfied through a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) program by completing Professional Development Activities (PDA).
Source: Colorado DPO – Naturopathy CPC
Connecticut
- Renewal Frequency: Annually
- Renewal Period: The renewal cycle is based on the individual’s license renewal date, not a fixed calendar date. CE must be completed in the one-year period prior to the license renewal date.
- Required Credit Hours: 15 contact hours
- Specific Requirements: There are no specific topic requirements mentioned; however, all continuing education must be directly related to the practice of naturopathy.
- Alternate CE Terminology: Continuing education hours are referred to as contact hours. One contact hour is defined as a minimum of 50 minutes of CE activity.
Source: Connecticut Department of Public Health – Naturopath Continuing Education
District of Columbia
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: The renewal cycle is based on the individual’s license expiration date. CE must be completed in the two-year period preceding that date.
- Required Credit Hours: 30 hours
Hawaii
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date: December 31st of every odd-numbered year. CE must be completed in the two-year period preceding this date.
- Required Credit Hours: 35 hours
- Specific Requirements:
A minimum of 15 hours must be in pharmacology.
Source: Hawaii DCCA – Board of Naturopathic Medicine and Hawaii State Legislature GM1332
Idaho
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years). Note: Idaho is transitioning to this system. As of 2025, renewals are moving to a 2-year cycle based on the licensee’s birth year.
- Renewal Period: The renewal period is based on the licensee’s birth date.
- Required Credit Hours: 48 hours.
- Specific Requirements:
A minimum of 20 hours must be in pharmacology.
Source: Idaho Division of Occupational and Professional Licenses – Naturopathic Medicine
Kansas
- Renewal Frequency: Annually
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date, January 31st of each year. The renewal period is from November 15th to January 31st.
- Required Credit Hours: 50 hours
- Specific Requirements:
- A minimum of 20 hours must be from professionally supervised settings.
- A maximum of 30 hours may be from non-supervised settings.
Maine
- Renewal Frequency: Annually
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date: October 31st of each year.
- Required Credit Hours: 25 hours
- Specific Requirements:
- A minimum of 7 hours must be in pharmacology.
- An additional 15 hours specific to acupuncture are required annually for naturopathic doctors who also hold an acupuncture certification.
Maryland
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date. The most recent expiration date listed by the board was March 31, 2022. CE must be completed in the two-year period preceding the renewal date.
- Required Credit Hours: 50 hours
Source: Maryland COMAR 10.32.21.11
Massachusetts
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date: November 30th of every odd-numbered year.CE must be completed in the 24 months preceding this date.
- Required Credit Hours: 50 hours
- Specific Requirements:
- 6 hours of Board-approved pain management training must be completed by the end of the very first licensing cycle.
- 2 hours must be in pharmacy.
- 1 hour must be in medical ethics.
- Licensees must maintain current certification in Basic Life Support (BLS) for the Health Care Provider.
Minnesota
- Renewal Frequency: Annually
- Renewal Period: The renewal period is the calendar year, with a renewal deadline of December 31st each year.
- Required Credit Hours: 25 contact hours
- Specific Requirements:
- A minimum of 5 hours must be in pharmacotherapeutics.
- A maximum of 5 hours can be in practice management.
- A maximum of 15 hours can be dedicated to any single subject area.
- Alternate CE Terminology: Continuing education hours are referred to as contact hours.
Source: Minnesota Board of Medical Practice – Continuing Education
Montana
- Renewal Frequency: Annually
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date: April 30th of each year.
- Required Credit Hours: 15 credits
- Specific Requirements:
- A minimum of 5 credits must be in naturopathic pharmacy.
- An additional 5 credits in obstetrics are required for those holding a naturopathic childbirth specialty certification.
- Alternate CE Terminology: The requirements are stated in “credits,” where one hour of education equals one credit.
New Hampshire
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date: June 30th of every odd-numbered year.
- Required Credit Hours: 45 credit hours
- Specific Requirements:
- A minimum of 12 hours must be in pharmacology or pharmacognosy.
- A minimum of 3 hours must be in pain management or addiction disorders.
- For those with specialty certificates in naturopathic childbirth or acupuncture, at least 12 of the 45 hours must be specific to those fields.
New Mexico
- Renewal Frequency: Triennially (every three years)
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date: March 1st, every three years.
- Required Credit Hours: 75 hours
- Specific Requirements:
- 10 hours must be in pharmacology.
- 5 hours must be in pain management.
- 1 hour must be dedicated to reviewing the naturopathic doctor practice act and board rules.
- Alternate CE Terminology: Continuing education is referred to as Continuing Medical Education (CME).
Source: New Mexico Association of Naturopathic Physicians – CME and New Mexico Administrative Code 16.10.22
North Dakota
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date: December 31st of every odd-numbered year.
- Required Credit Hours: 40 hours
- Specific Requirements:
- A minimum of 5 hours must be in pharmacology.
- Alternate CE Terminology: The requirements are referred to as continuing naturopathic education (CNE) credits.
Source: North Dakota Administrative Code 50-06-03 and N.D. Admin Code 50-06-01-09
Oregon
- Renewal Frequency: Annually
- Renewal Period: The renewal cycle is based on the licensee’s birth date. The license expires on the last day of the licensee’s birth month each year.
- Required Credit Hours: 32 hours
- Specific Requirements:
- 10 hours must be in pharmacology.
- 2 hours must be in either professional ethics, boundaries and communication, OR suicide intervention and prevention.
- 1 hour of cultural competency is required in even-numbered years.
- 1 hour of pain management is required in odd-numbered years.
Source: Oregon Board of Naturopathic Medicine – Continuing Education
Pennsylvania
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: The specific renewal dates are still being established by the State Board of Medicine following the enactment of registration in March 2024.
- Required Credit Hours: 40 hours (based on proposed regulations)
- Specific Requirements:
- 2 hours must be in approved child abuse recognition and reporting training.
- Licensees must maintain current certification in Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR).
- Note: Pennsylvania enacted legislation to register Naturopathic Doctors on March 20, 2024. The full continuing education regulations are in the process of being finalized by the State Board of Medicine.
Source: PA Code & Bulletin
Rhode Island
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: The renewal cycle is based on the individual’s license issuance date.
- Required Credit Hours: 30 hours
- Alternate CE Terminology: The requirements are referred to as continuing education credits.
Utah
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date: May 31st of every even-numbered year.
- Required Credit Hours: 48 hours
- Specific Requirements:
- A minimum of 20 hours must be in pharmacy or pharmacology related to the Naturopathic Physician Formulary.
- Of those 20 hours, 10 hours must be recognized as Category 1 credit hours by the ACCME.
- At least one approved online suicide prevention training must be completed (which qualifies for CE credit).
- A minimum of 20 hours must be in pharmacy or pharmacology related to the Naturopathic Physician Formulary.
Vermont
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date: January 31st of every odd-numbered year.
- Required Credit Hours: 30 hours
- Specific Requirements:
- A minimum of 8 hours must be in pharmacology.
- A minimum of 2 hours must be on the topic of abuse and financial exploitation of vulnerable adults.
Washington
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: The renewal cycle is based on the licensee’s birth date. The license expires annually on the licensee’s birthday and must be renewed, but CE is reported every two years.
- Required Credit Hours: 60 hours
- Specific Requirements:
- A minimum of 20 hours must be from specific, board-approved providers (such as WANP or AANP).
- A minimum of 15 hours must be in pharmacology.
- A one-time, 6-hour training in suicide assessment, treatment, and management is required by the end of the first full reporting period after initial licensure.
- A minimum of 2 hours of health equity training is required every four years.
Source: Washington State Legislature – WAC 246-836-080 and the Washington Association of Naturopathic Physicians
Wisconsin
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: All licenses expire on a fixed date: October 31st of every odd-numbered year.
- Required Credit Hours: 30 credit hours
- Specific Requirements:
- 5 hours must be in pharmacy.
- 2 hours must be in ethics.
US Territories
Puerto Rico
- Frecuencia de Renovación: Trienal (cada tres años)
- Período de Renovación: El ciclo de renovación se basa en el mes de cumpleaños del licenciado.
- Horas de Crédito Requeridas: 36 horas contacto
- Requisitos Específicos:
- Un mínimo de 7 horas deben ser en temas relacionados al diagnóstico.
- Un mínimo de 3 horas deben ser sobre los temas de SIDA, Hepatitis, Tuberculosis y/u otras enfermedades transmisibles.
- Terminología Alternativa de CE: Los requisitos se denominan horas contacto o UEC (Unidades de Educación Continua).
Fuente: Gobierno de Puerto Rico Departamento de Salud – Reglamento 135
English Translation:
- Renewal Frequency: Triennially (every three years)
- Renewal Period: The renewal cycle is based on the licensee’s birth month.
- Required Credit Hours: 36 contact hours
- Specific Requirements:
- A minimum of 7 hours must be in topics related to diagnosis.
- A minimum of 3 hours must be on the topics of AIDS, Hepatitis, Tuberculosis, and/or other communicable diseases.
- Alternate CE Terminology: The requirements are referred to as contact hours or UEC (Unidades de Educación Continua).
Source: Gobierno de Puerto Rico Departamento de Salud – Reglamento 135
U.S. Virgin Islands
- Renewal Frequency: Biennially (every two years)
- Renewal Period: Not established, as the regulatory board has not been formed.
- Required Credit Hours: 30 hours
- Specific Requirements:
- An additional 10 hours of continuing education annually (totaling 20 extra hours per renewal cycle) is required for licensees holding a specialty certificate.
- Note: Although the law outlines these CE requirements, it is understood that the regulatory board was never formed. Consequently, there is no active license renewal process in place to enforce these requirements.
Source: U.S. Virgin Islands Code – Title 27, Chapter 4, § 196
