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MQA Q1 2014 - 2015
Continuing Education
10
Starting with license renewal cycles in 2015, health care practitioners will have to report CE/CME hours to
renew their licenses. MQA launched the Are You Renewal Ready? campaign in January 2013 to educate health
care practitioners, their employers and CE/CME providers about the new requirements. Previously, health
care professionals were required to complete continuing education hours, but were not required to provide
documentation except in the case of a post-renewal audit. The CE/CME Electronic Tracking System records the
licensee’s credits and prompts completion of the paperwork before renewal, integrating CE tracking with license
renewal. The new system is estimated to save as much as $500,000 annually through audit and enforcement
reductions.
Licensees in all professions have gotten information during the past two years explaining the upcoming
requirements, and each will undergo an intensive awareness campaign in the months leading up to renewal
deadlines for their first mandatory reporting period. Outreach has included direct mailings and emails,
promotion at association meetings, emails to Florida hospitals and educational providers, and posters and rack
cards in hospital employee areas. Each month, eight-to-ten informational webinars are being conducted, walking
licensees through the process of creating a CE Broker account. Licensees must create a CE Broker account
-- free at the basic level -- to track their continuing education courses, which are being required in a phased
process during the next two years.
The Electronic Tracking System is integrated into the Department’s license and renewal system. It will digitally
store hours and certificates from continuing education courses. Florida approved CE/CME providers report
course completion into the tracking system within 90 days of the completion date. Licensed practitioners can
log into their account and check the course history and report hours from providers who are not required to
report directly to the system.
WHEN IT HAPPENS
NEW REQUIREMENTS NEAR
The Department shall implement an electronic continuing education tracking system for each new biennial renewal cycle for which
electronic renewals are implemented after the effective date of this act and shall integrate such system into the licensure and
renewal system.
Section 456.025(7), F.S. states:
This section explains how MQA is preparing
licensees to use online tracking for continuing
education credits. Over the next two years, each
profession in a phased rollout will be required to
include CE/CME credit documentation with
license renewal.