Updated for 2026

West Virginia PMHNP Continuing Education Requirements

West Virginia psychiatric nurse practitioners must complete 24 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew their APRN license, including 12 hours of pharmacology.

These are the West 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.

24hours every 2 years
Topic minimums, counted within the 24
12pharmacology

Next deadline: June 30, 2027The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by June 30 of odd years.

Where this comes from
State source
West 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

West Virginia PMHNP requirements

Total

24 hoursYou need 24 hours every 2 years. The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by June 30 of odd years.

Topic minimums, counted within the 24

The remaining 12 hours are not tied to a topic minimum.
Pharmacology
12
You need 12 hours each cycle.

Cycle and record rules

Renewal
The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by June 30 of odd years.
Renewal fee
The board renewal fee is $90 every 2 years.
Approved providers
The 24 hours must come "from an approved continuing education provider recognized by the Board" (W. Va. Code R. 19-7-6.1.b): the Board lists national APRN certifiers (NPCB, AMCB, ANCC, NCC, PNCB), national and state nursing associations (ANA, WVNA, AANA) and "any State Board of Nursing in the U.S." (Board CE page), and 19-11-4.1.3 recognizes the West Virginia Nurses Association and any ANCC-accredited provider. Hours count only if "obtained within the most recent licensure renewal cycle", the July 1 to June 30 biennium ending in the odd year; the prescriptive authority pharmacology hours are "approved by the board" and fall "during the 2 years prior to renewal" (19-8-4.3). No provider gate is enforced because the recognized list is open-ended.
Recordkeeping
Keep CE documentation for 2 years after each renewal.
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 West 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
    West Virginia · Biennial

    24 CE hours every 2 years, including 12 hours of pharmacology.

    Requirements above
  2. RNRegistered Nurse
    West Virginia · Biennial

    12 CE hours every 2 years.

    West Virginia board rule
  3. CSRState Controlled Substance Registration
    West Virginia

    West 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 June 30, 2027.

Your result appears here as you enter hours.

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

Full board policy details
  • Clinical management half. Of the 24 hours, 12 must be in "the clinical management of patients" (W. Va. Code R. 19-7-6.1.b; "assessment, diagnosis, planning, and evaluation", Board CE page). The corpus has no clinical-management category, so only the 12 pharmacotherapeutics hours are enforced as a category and the remaining 12 ride on the 24-hour total; a licensee whose log is all pharmacology passes here but would not pass a Board audit. Log psychiatric assessment, diagnosis and treatment courses for the other 12.
  • Hours shared with the RN license. "12 hours may count toward the continuing education requirement for the registered nurse license according to WV19CSR11" (W. Va. Code R. 19-7-6.1.b). The RN renews on June 30 of even years and the APRN on June 30 of odd years, so a course counts for the RN row only if it also falls inside the RN's July 1 to June 30 even-year biennium (wv-rn.yaml); the engine checks each row's window separately.
  • National certification is a renewal condition, not a substitute for hours. The renewal application must carry "Evidence of current certification(s), or recertification as applicable, by a national professional certification organization" (W. Va. Code R. 19-7-6.1.c), and "An APRN shall provide evidence of current certification directly to the board by a recognized national certifying organization upon recertification and at the request of the board" (19-7-6.3). "Prescriptive authority is immediately and automatically terminated if national certification as an advanced practice registered nurse lapses or if the advanced practice registered nurse fails to provide the board evidence of current certification or re-certification of national certification before the expiration of the last certification on record" (19-8-6.6; 19-8-4.1-4.2). The ANCC renewal itself is us-pmhnp bc.yaml; nothing here is gated on `pmhnp bc` because holding it does not lift the 24 hours.
  • Prescriptive authority renewal. "Prescriptive authority for an advanced practice registered nurse must be renewed biennially. Documentation of eight contact hours of pharmacology during the previous two years must be submitted at the time of renewal" (W. Va. Code 30-7-15c(c)); the applicant must hold the APRN license, "Maintain an active, uninterrupted national certification", complete "a minimum of 8 contact hours of pharmacology education ... which may be part of the same 12 contact hours of advanced pharmacotherapeutics", and file a notarized application with the $125.00 fee (W. Va. Code R. 19-8-4.1, 4.3, 4.5; 19-12-2.12). It renews with the APRN license in odd years (Board renewals page). The 8 hours are inside the 12 already enforced, so no separate requirement is modeled. Prescriptive authority "terminates immediately if either the license to practice registered professional nursing or the Advanced Practice Registered Nurse license in the State of West Virginia lapses" (19-8-6.5) and on the expiration date shown if not renewed (19-8-6.7). A prescriber with a collaborative agreement keeps it on file; after "at least three years in a duly documented collaborative relationship" the APRN may apply to prescribe without one (W. Va. Code 30-7-15b(e); 19-8-3.1.f.3). Initial prescriptive authority needs 45 pharmacology contact hours, 15 within the prior two years (30-7-15b(a)(3); 19-8-3.1.a-c), a prerequisite rather than recurring CE.
  • Prescribing limits and controlled substances. An APRN "may not prescribe a Schedule I controlled substance" and "may prescribe up to a three-day supply of a Schedule II narcotic" (W. Va. Code 30-7-15a(a)-(b); W. Va. Code R. 19-8-5.1). "The advanced practice registered nurse with prescriptive authority who wishes to prescribe Schedules III through V drugs shall comply with federal Drug Enforcement Agency requirements prior to prescribing controlled substances" and "shall immediately file any and all of his or her Drug Enforcement Agency registrations and numbers with the board" (19-8-3.7, 3.8). Practitioners "who prescribe or dispense Schedule II, III, IV or V controlled substances shall register with the West Virginia Controlled Substances Monitoring Program" within 30 days of a new license and must check the database before first prescribing a Schedule II drug, an opioid or a benzodiazepine and at least annually after (W. Va. Code 60A-9-5a(a)-(b)). These are practice duties without hours; the federal MATE Act training is the DEA row's (us-dea.yaml).
  • No state controlled-substance registration. W. Va. Code 60A-3-302(a) requires a registration of "Every person who manufactures, distributes, or dispenses any controlled substance", issued by the Board of Pharmacy "or the appropriate department, board, or agency" that licenses the practitioner (60A-3-301). The Board of Pharmacy's rule covers "the registration and control of the manufacture and distribution of controlled substances" (W. Va. Code R. 15-2-1.1), and the Board of Registered Nurses' prescriptive authority rule (19-8) creates no controlled-substance registration of its own: it assigns a prescriber identification number, notifies the Board of Pharmacy (19-8-3.4, 3.5) and requires the federal DEA registration (3.7). The Board's own instructions name only the DEA registration and the CSMP account. An APRN may "sign for, accept, and provide to patients samples of drugs" (19-8-5.3) but is not licensed as a dispensing practitioner. No `csr` row.
  • No other statewide mandates. Apart from the one-time drug diversion course of W. Va. Code 30-1-7a(b) (on wv-rn.yaml, or in the conditional block above for an APRN without a West Virginia RN row), West Virginia attaches no opioid, pain management, implicit bias, human trafficking, suicide prevention or ethics hours to the APRN license; H.B. 3317 (2023) removed the former recurring controlled-substance hours.
  • Reinstatement and inactive status. An APRN may go inactive by telling the Board in writing, and returns by meeting the reinstatement requirements (W. Va. Code R. 19-7-7.3). Reinstatement needs the application, the fee and "evidence of current certification or re-certification directly to the board", and an APRN "out of practice for more than 5 years" must pass a Board-approved APRN refresher course or supervised orientation (19-7-7.1-7.2). An endorsement applicant not in clinical practice for more than two years shows "24 contact hours, 12 in pharmacotherapeutics and 12 in the clinical management of patients, within the two years prior", and one out more than five years "45 contact hours of pharmacotherapeutics" plus a refresher (19-7-5.1.d-e). Case by case; not modeled.
  • Compacts. The Nurse Licensure Compact (W. Va. Code 30-7F) covers RN licenses only. An APRN license requires "an active West Virginia RN license or an active multistate RN license from a Compact state" (Board renewals page; 19-7-5.1), so a West Virginia APRN may have no West Virginia RN row. West Virginia has not enacted the APRN Compact, which is in effect nowhere; every West Virginia APRN license is a single-state license renewed on this calendar.

West Virginia PMHNP CE: frequently asked questions

Which credentials does a West Virginia PMHNP renew?

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

How many CE hours do West Virginia PMHNP licensees need?

West Virginia requires 24 continuing education hours every 2 years to renew a PMHNP license. The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by June 30 of odd years.

How often do West Virginia PMHNP licensees renew?

The renewal cycle is biennial, and CE is due by June 30 of odd years.

How much does West Virginia PMHNP license renewal cost?

The board's renewal fee is $90 every 2 years, per the West Virginia board fee schedule. CE course costs are separate and set by course providers.

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

Yes. West Virginia requires 12 hours of pharmacology.

Sources and verification

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

We reviewed this page against the West 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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West 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.West Virginia mental health workforce data →5,546 active providers, or 314 per 100,000 residents, ranked 40 of 51. The page includes a county density map and free CSV downloads.

Other West Virginia CE requirement pages

West Virginia LPCWest Virginia LMFTWest Virginia LCSWWest Virginia Psychologist

PMHNP CE requirements in other states