Updated for 2026

Virginia PMHNP Continuing Education Requirements

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

These are the Virginia 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
8pharmacology or pharmacotherapeutics

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

Where this comes from
State source
Virginia 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

Virginia PMHNP requirements

Topic minimums

Pharmacology or pharmacotherapeutics
8
You need 8 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 $80 every 2 years, and a late (delinquent) renewal adds a $25 fee.
Approved providers
The 40-hour alternative for pre-2002 licensees must be "in the area of specialty practice approved by one of the certifying agencies designated in 18VAC90-30-90 or approved by Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) ... as a Category I Continuing Medical Education (CME) course" (18VAC90-30-105(B)(2)); the designated agencies include the American Nurses Credentialing Center and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (18VAC90-30-90(A)). The eight pharmacology hours carry no provider restriction of their own (18VAC90-40-55(B)). Hours count in the biennium ending at the birth-month renewal. The joint boards keep no provider list, so no provider gate is enforced; keep the certificates for four years.
Recordkeeping
Keep CE documentation for 4 years after each renewal.
Board audit
The board may audit licensees to verify CE compliance.
Late renewal
A late renewal adds a $25 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 Virginia 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
    Virginia · Biennial

    8 hours of pharmacology or pharmacotherapeutics every 2 years.

    Requirements above
  2. RNRegistered Nurse
    Virginia · Biennial

    No fixed CE hour total applies to a board-certified, prescribing PMHNP.

    Virginia board rule
  3. CSRState Controlled Substance Registration
    Virginia

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

Full board policy details
  • National certification is the renewal condition, not a substitute for hours: the licensee "shall attest to compliance with continuing competency requirements of current professional certification or continuing education as prescribed in 18VAC90-30-105" (18VAC90-30-100(C)), and for anyone first licensed on or after May 8, 2002 the only path is to "hold current professional certification in the area of specialty practice from one of the certifying agencies designated in 18VAC90-30-90" (105(A)). The boards "shall accept" the certification by examination of, among others, the "American Nurses Credentialing Center" and the "American Academy of Nurse Practitioners" (18VAC90-30-90(A)). A nurse practitioner whose ANCC certification lapses cannot renew the APRN license; the certification's own 75-hour, five-year renewal is us-pmhnp bc.yaml and is not folded in here. The base requirement list is empty for that reason, and the 40-hour alternative is confined to pre-2002 licensees without certification.
  • Prescriptive authority renews with the APRN license: "A licensee with prescriptive authority shall meet continuing competency requirements for biennial renewal as a licensed advanced practice registered nurse. Such requirements shall address issues such as ethical practice, an appropriate standard of care, patient safety, and appropriate communication with patients" (18VAC90-40-55(A)). The separate renewal section, 18VAC90-40-50, was repealed effective March 4, 2020 (Virginia Register Volume 36, Issue 12), and 18VAC90-40-70 lists only an initial prescriptive authority fee; the Board's fee schedule carries no prescriptive authority renewal fee. Initial approval requires, among the options, a graduate pharmacology or pharmacotherapeutics course in the APRN program within the preceding five years or "Thirty contact hours of education in pharmacology or pharmacotherapeutics acceptable to the boards" within the preceding five years (18VAC90-40-40(2)); an application matter, not modeled. The eight recurring hours are gated on the `prescribing` fact, which in Virginia means holding prescriptive authority under 18VAC90-40.
  • No opioid, pain management or controlled-substance hours for nurse practitioners. The two hours a biennium "on topics related to pain management, the responsible prescribing of covered substances and the diagnosis and management of addiction" that secondary sources still cite (and that the Board of Nursing's prescriptive authority page links as "Continued Competency Related to Pain Management for Prescribers (until July 1, 2022)") were Va. Code § 54.1-2912.1(C) as added by 2016 Acts c. 447 (H 829): a Board of Medicine duty to require the hours of prescribers identified under § 54.1-2523(C)(9), which the Board of Medicine extended to "all licensees with prescribing authority" for the 2017-2018 through 2021-2022 biennia (Board of Medicine opioid CE notice, December 2020). The act's provisions "shall expire on July 1, 2022", and the current § 54.1-2912.1 (last amended 2016, c. 447) no longer contains them. 18VAC90-40-55 sets no such hours and never did; § 54.1-2957.01(C) only directs the joint boards to adopt continued competency regulations addressing "the use of new pharmaceuticals". Nothing is modeled, and a `dea` row adds no state hours. The joint boards' regulations governing the prescribing of opioids and buprenorphine in 18VAC90-40 are practice standards (evaluation, PMP checks, dosage limits, counseling), not continuing education.
  • Prescription Monitoring Program: "Any prescriber who is licensed in the Commonwealth to treat human patients and is authorized pursuant to §§ 54.1-3303 and 54.1-3408 to issue a prescription for a covered substance shall be registered with the Prescription Monitoring Program by the Department of Health Professions" (Va. Code § 54.1-2522.1(A)), with the query duties of subsection B (opioid courses expected to exceed seven days; from July 1, 2027, benzodiazepines or opiates expected to exceed 90 days). A registration and practice duty with no fee, cycle or CE; not a state controlled-substance registration and not modeled.
  • Autonomous practice: a nurse practitioner "who has completed the equivalent of at least three years of full-time clinical experience, as determined by the Boards, may practice in the practice category in which he is certified and licensed without a written or electronic practice agreement upon receipt by the nurse practitioner of an attestation" from the patient care team physician or an attesting nurse practitioner (Va. Code § 54.1-2957(I), the five-year figure having been reduced; the Board: "Since July 2024, NPs need 3 years of clinical experience or 5,400 clinical hours"). The boards define full-time as "1,800 hours per year" (18VAC90-30-86) and charge a $100 "Autonomous practice attestation" fee (18VAC90-30-50(A)(10)). The designation is placed on the license and has no renewal cycle or continuing education of its own; it bears on renewal only in that a license lapsed more than one renewal period is reinstated with the designation only on a fresh fee and attestation (18VAC90-30-110(B)(4)). Not modeled; an autonomous nurse practitioner's prescribing is reached by the same `prescribing` fact.
  • Stacking with the RN license: the RN license (va-rn.yaml) renews at the same time, and "Registered nurses who also hold an active license as a nurse practitioner shall only meet the requirements of 18VAC90-30-105 and, for those with prescriptive authority, 18VAC90-40-55" (18VAC90-19-160(C)(2)). The RN row's 30 hours are gated off on the `pmhnp bc` row for that reason, and credits pool across the stack, so a pharmacology course logged once is checked against both rows.
  • Compacts: Virginia is a Nurse Licensure Compact state (Va. Code §§ 54.1-3040.1 through 54.1-3040.11; enhanced NLC implemented January 19, 2018), which covers the RN and LPN licenses only; an APRN with a multistate RN privilege from another compact state still holds a single-state Virginia APRN license, renewed by birth month in the even or odd year matching the birth year (18VAC90-30-100(A)(2)) and, per the Board's FAQ, by mail with a copy of the multistate license. The APRN Compact has not been enacted in Virginia and is not in effect anywhere; HD 18 (2021) recommended that Virginia pursue it.
  • Reinstatement (18VAC90-30-110): a license lapsed one renewal period or less is reinstated on the current renewal fee and the late fee; lapsed longer, the applicant files for reinstatement with the fee, holds a current Virginia RN license or multistate privilege, and shows competency by current certification from a designated agency, by "continuing education hours ... equal to the number required for licensure renewal during that period, not to exceed 120 hours", or by current unrestricted licensure or certification in another jurisdiction. A certified nurse practitioner therefore reinstates on the certification; the hour catch-up applies to the pre-2002 population and is not modeled.
  • Extensions and exemptions: "The boards may delegate the authority to grant an extension or exemption for all or part of the requirements for circumstances beyond the control of the licensee, such as temporary disability, mandatory military service, or officially declared disasters" (18VAC90-30-105(E); 18VAC90-40-55(E)). Granted case by case; not modeled.

Virginia PMHNP CE: frequently asked questions

Which credentials does a Virginia PMHNP renew?

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

How often do Virginia PMHNP licensees renew?

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

How much does Virginia PMHNP license renewal cost?

The board's renewal fee is $80 every 2 years, per the Virginia board fee schedule. Renewing late adds a $25 delinquency fee on top. CE course costs are separate and set by course providers.

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

Yes. Virginia requires 8 hours of pharmacology or pharmacotherapeutics.

Sources and verification

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

We reviewed this page against the Virginia 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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Virginia 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.Virginia mental health workforce data →29,924 active providers, or 337 per 100,000 residents, ranked 39 of 51. The page includes a county density map and free CSV downloads.

Other Virginia CE requirement pages

Virginia LPCVirginia LMFTVirginia LCSWVirginia PsychologistVirginia Addiction Counselor

PMHNP CE requirements in other states