Updated for 2026

Tennessee PMHNP Continuing Education Requirements

Here's what a Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP) must complete to renew in Tennessee.

These are the Tennessee 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.

Topic minimums
2controlled substance prescribing practices (tennessee treatment guidelines on opioids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates and carisoprodol)

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

Where this comes from
State source
Tennessee 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

Tennessee PMHNP requirements

Topic minimums

Controlled substance prescribing practices (Tennessee treatment guidelines on opioids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates and carisoprodol)
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 $100 every 2 years.
Approved providers
The Board of Nursing keeps no approved-provider list and sets no fixed hours. The ten-contact-hour competence option is "continuing education/in-service education applicable to nursing practice" (Rule 1000-01-.18(2)(a)9), and the prescriber's two hours must be "designed specifically to address controlled substance prescribing practices" and include the Department of Health's treatment guidelines (Rule 1000-01-.18(2)(c)3); the Board lists courses it accepts for them. Hours count for "the applicable renewal period" and "the most recent biennial renewal period" (Rule 1000-01-.18(2)), the two years ending on the birth-month expiration. The Board's licensure page notes that CE providers report completions to CE Broker, where a free basic account shows a licensee's reported courses.
Recordkeeping
Keep CE documentation for 4 years after each course's completion date.
Board audit
The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance.
Late renewal
A late renewal adds a late fee.

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 Tennessee 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
    Tennessee · Biennial

    2 hours of controlled substance prescribing practices (tennessee treatment guidelines on opioids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates and carisoprodol) every 2 years.

    Requirements above
  2. RNRegistered Nurse
    Tennessee · Biennial

    No CE hours to renew.

    Requirements above
  3. CSRState Controlled Substance Registration
    Tennessee

    Tennessee does not issue a separate CSR.

  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 Tennessee Psychologist or LPC license? Each board runs its own CE cycle. See the Tennessee Psychologist and Tennessee LPC requirements.

Full board policy details
  • Continued competence, not continuing education: "All applicants for licensure, renewal of license, reactivation of license, or reinstatement of license must demonstrate current competency" (Rule 1000-01-.18(1)), by "attesting to maintaining a personal file documenting continued competence" with "at least two (2) of the items below for the applicable renewal period" (1000-01-.18(2)). For an RN the fourteen items are a satisfactory employer evaluation, a peer evaluation, contract renewal or re-appointment, a written self-evaluation, national certification obtained or maintained in the most recent biennial period, a two-goal competency plan, nursing volunteer or board service, participation in the formal education of nursing students, "Successful completion of (10) contact hours per renewal period of continuing education/in-service education applicable to nursing practice", a published article, a two-week Board-approved refresher program, a two-week Board-approved employer orientation, three nursing credit hours in an approved program in the past five years, or retaking the NCLEX (1000-01-.18(2)(a)). An APRN documents "Evidence of initial or continuing national certification; and One (1) additional item from the Registered Nurse proof of competence list" (1000-01-.18(2)(b)). Because CE is one optional item among fourteen, the engine carries no total on either row; a licensee who chooses the CE item logs ten hours and the Board's own sheet (May 2025) asks for a "Certificate/evidence of ten contact hours per renewal period". The five-hour figure that older guides repeat was the pre-2024 rule (former Rule 1000-01-.11). The Board's licensure page: "By signing the renewal application form, licensees affirm that they have met this requirement", "Audits of continuing competence are conducted each month", and "Nurses who have not practiced for more than five (5) years and do not intend to practice in the future, are not required to comply with this rule" (1000-01-.18).
  • National certification is a condition of the APRN certificate, not a substitute for hours: the certificate requires "a current national specialty certification in the appropriate nursing specialty area from a certifying body approved by the Board" (Rule 1000-04-.03(3)), the certificate of fitness requires the same (1000-04-.04(2)(d)), and renewal competence for every APRN starts with "Evidence of initial or continuing national certification" (1000-01-.18(2)(b)1, (c)1); the Board's sheet asks for the "Current national certification certificate (NOT state license; ex: ANCC, AANP, NBCRNA, etc)". There are no Tennessee hours for it to replace, so holding `pmhnp bc` changes nothing on this rule; the certification's own 75 hours are us-pmhnp bc.yaml. For the RN row, national certification is itself one of the two competence items (1000-01-.18(2)(a)5).
  • Certificate of fitness and the DEA: "An active certificate of fitness issued by the Tennessee Board of Nursing, pursuant to T.C.A. § 63-7-123, will authorize an advanced practice registered nurse to perform acts of medical diagnosis, develop a medical plan of care and therapeutics for a patient, prescribe or issue drugs, and prescribe other treatments" (Rule 1000-04-.04(1)), after "at least three (3) quarter hours of pharmacology instruction or its equivalent" in the graduate program (1000-04-.04(2)(c)). Those APRNs "shall maintain their Drug Enforcement Administration registration certificate to prescribe controlled substances at their practice location" (1000-04-.04(3)), file a notice and formulary naming the collaborating physician before prescribing (1000-04-.04(4)-(6)), and register in the Controlled Substance Monitoring Database within thirty days of receiving a DEA number when they prescribe on more than fifteen days a year (T.C.A. § 53-10-305(a)). None of these is continuing education. The two controlled-substance hours are modeled on the `prescribing` fact; an APRN whose certificate of fitness is held but who answers no to prescribing is treated as not owing them, which under-asks (the Board's rule keys on holding the certificate, not on prescribing).
  • No state controlled-substance registration. Tennessee practitioners prescribe on the certificate of fitness plus the federal DEA registration; the state registration of T.C.A. § 53-11-302 is issued by the Board of Pharmacy to those who "manufacture, distribute, dispense" or provide logistics for controlled substances as a business, and the CSMD account of § 53-10-305 is database access ("register in the controlled substance database"), not an authorization. There is no `csr` row in this state; the federal DEA row is us-dea.yaml.
  • High-risk prescribers: T.C.A. § 68-1-128 requires the Department of Health to identify high-risk prescribers, and the Board's policy statement (amended May 16, 2025) requires an identified prescriber to "complete a continuing education course or courses that individually or combined total no less than twenty (20) hours and address the risks, complications and consequences of opioids addiction", from four listed courses or one pre-approved by the Board's consultant. It is triggered by Department notice, not by a license fact, so it is not modeled.
  • Exemptions from the controlled-substance hours: T.C.A. § 63-1-402(c) exempts "veterinarians, providers practicing at a registered pain management clinic" and physicians board-certified in pain management, anesthesiology, physical medicine and rehabilitation, neurology or rheumatology; the physician specialties cannot apply to an APRN, and the pain-clinic exemption is not a license fact, so a psychiatric NP practicing at a registered pain management clinic sees the two hours and records them anyway. Rule 1000-01-.18(2)(c) states no exemption.
  • First renewal: Rule 1000-01-.18(1) says "For initial licensees, successfully completing the requirements for licensure, as applicable, shall be considered proof of sufficient competence", which addresses the application for licensure, not the first renewal; neither chapter waives competence items or the prescriber hours at a first renewal, so no first-cycle override is modeled.
  • Compacts: Tennessee is a Nurse Licensure Compact state (Rule 1000-01-.19 links the Enhanced Nurse Licensure Compact rules "Effective January 2, 2024" from the Board's website), so a Tennessee-resident RN holds a multistate license renewed on this cycle, and an out-of-state multistate RN may hold the APRN certificate on "the multistate licensure privilege to practice in Tennessee" (Rules 1000-04-.03(1), 1000-04-.05) without a Tennessee RN row. Tennessee has not enacted the APRN Compact, which is in effect nowhere (five states enacted, seven needed), so the APRN certificate is single-state.

Tennessee PMHNP CE: frequently asked questions

Which credentials does a Tennessee PMHNP renew?

4 separate credentials, each on its own renewal date: the APRN (Tennessee, biennial), the RN (Tennessee, biennial), the PMHNP-BC (ANCC, every 5 years), and the DEA (DEA, triennial). Tennessee issues no separate CSR. A lapse at any one of them stops prescribing.

How often do Tennessee PMHNP licensees renew?

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

How much does Tennessee PMHNP license renewal cost?

The board's renewal fee is $100 every 2 years, per the Tennessee board fee schedule. CE course costs are separate and set by course providers.

Are there subject-specific CE requirements for Tennessee PMHNP licensees?

Yes. Tennessee requires 2 hours of controlled substance prescribing practices (tennessee treatment guidelines on opioids, benzodiazepines, barbiturates and carisoprodol).

Sources and verification

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

We reviewed this page against the Tennessee 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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Tennessee 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.Tennessee mental health workforce data →19,801 active providers, or 270.7 per 100,000 residents, ranked 47 of 51. The page includes a county density map and free CSV downloads.

Other Tennessee CE requirement pages

Tennessee LPCTennessee LMFTTennessee LCSWTennessee PsychologistTennessee Addiction Counselor

PMHNP CE requirements in other states