Updated for 2026

Rhode Island PMHNP Continuing Education Requirements

Rhode Island psychiatric nurse practitioners must complete 10 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew their APRN license, including 2 hours of substance abuse.

These are the Rhode Island APRN license requirements for a board-certified PMHNP who prescribes controlled substances. Your RN license, ANCC certification and DEA registration renew separately; see every credential.

10hours every 2 years
Topic minimums, counted within the 10
2substance abuse

The renewal cycle is biennial and is tied to your license's renewal (expiration) date.

Where this comes from
State source
Rhode Island board rule
Last verified
October 2026
Ruleset version
2026.2

Every figure on this page is read from this rule, and the page refreshes when the ruleset changes. How we verify

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Requirements

Rhode Island PMHNP requirements

Total

10 hoursYou need 10 hours every 2 years. The renewal cycle is biennial and is tied to your license's renewal (expiration) date.

Topic minimums, counted within the 10

The remaining 8 hours are not tied to a topic minimum.
Substance abuse
2
You need 2 hours each cycle.

Cycle and record rules

Renewal
The renewal cycle is biennial and is tied to your license's renewal (expiration) date.
Renewal fee
The board renewal fee is $135 every 2 years.
Approved providers
"Continuing education hours related to nursing practice will be accepted by the Board for course work that has been presented, accepted or approved by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or its local chapter, other recognized professional nursing organizations, any department or school of nursing approved by a board of nursing, or such other professional, labor organization, or accrediting agency as may be approved by the Board" (216-RICR-40-05-3 § 3.5(B)). The hours must have been completed "in the preceding two years" (§ 3.5(A); R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-34-19(b)), that is, in the licensing period that ends at this March 1 expiration. One contact hour is sixty minutes, and one CEU is ten hours (§ 3.5(A)(1)). The Board publishes no list of individual approved courses; ANCC-accredited, ACCME-accredited and nursing-school offerings are the usual sources.
Recordkeeping
Keep CE documentation for 4 years after each renewal.
Board audit
The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance.

To keep your proof in order, see what to keep for a CE audit, which covers every state’s retention period and what the audit notice asks for.

Credential stack

Every credential a Rhode Island PMHNP renews

Each one renews on its own date, and a lapse at any of them stops prescribing. The ANCC certification and DEA registration are the same in every state.

  1. APRNAdvanced Practice Registered Nurse
    Rhode Island · Biennial

    10 CE hours every 2 years, including 2 hours of substance abuse.

    Requirements above
  2. RNRegistered Nurse
    Rhode Island · Biennial

    10 CE hours every 2 years, including 2 hours of substance abuse.

    Requirements above
  3. CSRState Controlled Substance Registration
    Rhode Island · Biennial

    No recurring CE hours, but a one-time training applies.

    Rhode Island board rule
  4. PMHNP-BCPsychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner, Board Certified
    ANCC · Every 5 years

    75 CE hours every 5 years, including 25 hours of pharmacology.

    PMHNP-BC renewal requirements
  5. DEADEA Registration
    DEA · Triennial

    No recurring CE hours, but a one-time training applies.

    DEA renewal requirements
Your hours

Check where you stand

Enter the hours you have completed this cycle to see what is left before your renewal.

Your result appears here as you enter hours.

Also hold a Rhode Island Psychologist or LPC license? Each board runs its own CE cycle. See the Rhode Island Psychologist and Rhode Island LPC requirements.

Rhode Island PMHNP required trainings and mandates

Beyond the 10-hour CE total, Rhode Island requires specific trainings. Some are due once around initial licensure, and others run on their own recurring schedule.

One-time requirements

  • "All physicians licensed pursuant to chapter 37 of title 5, and nurses licensed pursuant to chapter 34 of title 5, shall, no later than October 1, 2023, complete a one-time course of training consisting of a minimum of one hour of instruction on the diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients with cognitive impairments including, but not limited to, Alzheimer's disease and related disorders" (R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-1.7-5(a), P.L. 2019, ch. 174 and 209, as amended by P.L. 2022, ch. 356 and 357). The Department: "Effective August 1, 2019, every nurse has to complete one hour (per career) of CEU training regarding Alzheimer's disease", and it publishes a list of qualifying CME/CEU trainings. RN and APRN licenses are both issued under chapter 5-34, so the requirement is shown on both rows and one logged course satisfies both. The statute names no deadline for nurses first licensed after October 1, 2023; the Department's "per career" reading is followed, so it is owed until completed. An hour of approved nursing CE on the subject also counts toward the ten hours of the renewal in which it is taken. 2026 H 8545 would make the hour recurring ("every other renewal cycle"); it had not been enacted when this rule was verified. (1 hour, one time).

Recurring mandates outside the 2-year cycle

  • Evidence of current national certification (or recertification) in the APRN role and population focus, verified at every APRN renewal (216-RICR-40-05-3 § 3.4(B)(1); R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-34-45(e)(2)), and written notice to the Board within five business days of a lapse or sanction (§ 3.9(C)). A renewal condition, not CE; applies to the APRN row only, and not to a nurse practitioner without prescriptive privileges licensed on June 17, 2013 (§ 3.4(B)(1)(a)). For a PMHNP the certification is the pmhnp bc row (us-pmhnp bc.yaml).
Full board policy details
  • One set of hours for both licenses. Part 3 issues "a license to practice either as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, a professional nurse, or practical nurse" on the same March 1 biennium (§ 3.4(A)) and asks the same "ten (10) required continuing education hours" of "Every person seeking renewal of a license under the provisions of the Act and this Part" (§ 3.5(A)). The APRN license "shall be renewed every two (2) years according to a schedule established by the board of nursing" on a renewal application and fee, maintained national certification, and "other requirements set forth in regulations" (R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-34-45(e)); no section sets APRN hours apart from the ten. An APRN who holds the RN privilege through another compact state's multistate license still owes the ten hours on the Rhode Island APRN license.
  • National certification is a renewal condition, not a CE substitute. "Evidence of current national certification, or recertification as applicable, as an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse shall be verified at renewal" (216-RICR-40-05-3 § 3.4(B)(1)); the renewing APRN must "Maintain national certification in the appropriate APRN role and at least one population focus, authorized by licensure, through an ongoing recertification maintenance program of a nationally recognized certifying body recognized by the board of nursing" (R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-34-45(e)(2)), and must notify the Board in writing "within five (5) business days of failure to renew or other lapse of any national certification" (§ 3.9(C)(2)). A nurse practitioner without prescriptive privileges whose license was valid on June 17, 2013 may renew without it (§ 3.4(B)(1)(a)). The certification's own 75 hours are governed by us-pmhnp bc.yaml; nothing here is gated on `pmhnp bc`, because the ten hours are owed either way (ANCC-accredited hours simply count here).
  • Prescribers owe no extra hours on this license. An APRN "may prescribe, order, procure, administer, dispense and furnish over the counter, legend and controlled substances pursuant to applicable state and federal laws, when the APRN has completed an educational program ... that includes courses in pathophysiology, pharmacology and physical assessment" (§ 3.7(A)(1); R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-34-49(b)). For APRNs "with the population focus of psychiatric/mental health" the privileges "Shall include prescription of certain psychotropic and certain legend medications, controlled substances from Schedule II classified as stimulants, and controlled substances from Schedule III and IV" and "Shall not include controlled substances from Schedules I, II, and V" otherwise (§ 5-34-49(e); § 3.7(D)(2)). Neither Part 3 nor chapter 5-34 carries pharmacology, opioid or controlled-substance CE for the APRN license; the thirty hours of pharmacology every six years that secondary sources still list come from the certified registered nurse practitioner prescribing statute of P.L. 1996, ch. 429, whose sections (§§ 5-34-40.1 to 5-34-40.4) are repealed and replaced by the 2013 APRN act (P.L. 2013, ch. 83 and 93). "Prior to prescribing those drugs classified under R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 21-28 as controlled substances, an Advanced Practice Registered Nurse shall be required to register for such privileges with the Board of Pharmacy, Rhode Island Department of Health, and the Registration Unit of the federal Drug Enforcement Administration" (§ 3.7(A)(3)): the state registration and its one-time opioid training are the `csr` row (ri-csr.yaml), the federal one the `dea` row (us-dea.yaml).
  • Alzheimer's disease training. One hour, once per career, on "the diagnosis, treatment, and care of patients with cognitive impairments including, but not limited to, Alzheimer's disease and related disorders" (R.I. Gen. Laws § 23-1.7-5(a)), due for licensed nurses by October 1, 2023. The engine has no due date on a one-time requirement, so it shows as owed until logged or marked completed. 2026 H 8545 (as amended June 2026; recommended for passage by House Health and Human Services and placed on the House calendar June 9, 2026) would require the hour "every other renewal cycle" and add physician assistants; no enactment was found, and the one-time reading stays until it is.
  • Hardship extension. "The Department may extend for only one (1) six (6) month period the continuing education requirements if the Department is satisfied that the applicant has suffered hardship which prevented meeting the educational requirements of this Part" (§ 3.5(F); R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-34-19(b)). Granted on request; not modeled.
  • Inactive status and reactivation. A nurse "who does not intend to practice nursing during a two (2) year period, upon written request to the Department, may have his or her name transferred to an inactive list and shall not be required to pay the renewal fee" (§ 3.6(A); R.I. Gen. Laws § 5-34-20). To resume practice the nurse remits the renewal fee and attests "to the completion of the above continuing education requirements for the period during which the license was inactive [i.e., five (5) hours per year] or a re-entry program approved by the Board" (§ 3.6(A)(1)). The catch-up scales with the years inactive, which the engine cannot derive, so it is described here rather than modeled. The Board's June 12, 2023 guidance for RN reinstatement adds a competency test after two to five years out of practice and a refresher course after more than five (Board guidance on the nurses page).
  • No other statewide topic mandates were found for nurses: no implicit bias, human trafficking, suicide prevention, infection control, domestic violence or laws-and-rules hours in Part 3 or chapter 5-34. Prescribers must assess and document pain under the Pain Assessment rules (216-RICR-20-15-2; § 3.8(E)), a practice standard with no hours.
  • Compacts. "Effective January 1, 2024, Rhode Island has rejoined the Nurse Licensure Compact" (RIDOH nurses page; R.I. Gen. Laws chapter 5-34.3). A Rhode Island-resident RN may hold a multistate RN license renewed on this same March 1 biennium. Rhode Island has not enacted the APRN Compact (no such chapter in Title 5), so every Rhode Island APRN license is a single-state license.

Rhode Island PMHNP CE: frequently asked questions

Which credentials does a Rhode Island PMHNP renew?

5 separate credentials, each on its own renewal date: the APRN (Rhode Island, biennial), the RN (Rhode Island, biennial), the CSR (Rhode Island, biennial), the PMHNP-BC (ANCC, every 5 years), and the DEA (DEA, triennial). A lapse at any one of them stops prescribing.

How many CE hours do Rhode Island PMHNP licensees need?

Rhode Island requires 10 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew a PMHNP license. The renewal cycle is biennial and is tied to your license's renewal (expiration) date.

How often do Rhode Island PMHNP licensees renew?

The renewal cycle is biennial and is tied to your license's renewal (expiration) date.

How much does Rhode Island PMHNP license renewal cost?

The board's renewal fee is $135 every 2 years, per the Rhode Island board fee schedule. CE course costs are separate and set by course providers.

Are there subject-specific CE requirements for Rhode Island PMHNP licensees?

Yes. Rhode Island requires 2 hours of substance abuse.

Sources and verification

State source
Rhode Island board rule
Fee schedule
Rhode Island board fee schedule
Last verified
October 2026
Ruleset version
2026.2

We reviewed this page against the Rhode Island board source, and we refresh it from the compiled ruleset above. Methodology and disclaimer. Compliance data is for guidance only, not legal or board advice. Always confirm requirements with your licensing board before renewing. See something wrong? Report it

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Rhode Island guides & data

What to keep for a CE audit →Learn what boards ask for in a CE audit, how long each state says to keep certificates, and what the notice looks like, then use the printable checklist.Rhode Island mental health workforce data →7,061 active providers, or 633.5 per 100,000 residents, ranked 10 of 51. The page includes a county density map and free CSV downloads.

Other Rhode Island CE requirement pages

Rhode Island LPCRhode Island LMFTRhode Island LCSWRhode Island PsychologistRhode Island Addiction Counselor

PMHNP CE requirements in other states