Pick the states you're licensed in and see only the CME that applies to you — every mandated topic, the required hours, and each renewal deadline, in one place. The planner then times all of your CME across a five-year horizon, so each accredited course counts toward as many states as possible and every license stays compliant.
51 jurisdictions mapped5-year timing plan
The compliance challenge
Every state license carries its own CME obligations
Physicians licensed in more than one state must satisfy each board independently — different required hours, mandated topics, and reporting periods, with no shared deadline and no single system of record. Three factors make this difficult to manage by hand:
Reporting periods rarely align
Renewal cycles run from one to five years and are set independently by each board. Required hours, mandated topics, and reporting windows vary by jurisdiction, leaving no common deadline to track against and no consolidated view of what is due and when.
Boards now verify CME before renewal
Many state boards have moved to online portals that require documented CME to be uploaded before a renewal will process. Compliance is confirmed at the point of renewal rather than after the fact, so any gap in required hours or topics must be resolved ahead of the deadline — independently, for each license.
Manual tracking is time-consuming
Requirements are published across dozens of individual board websites in inconsistent formats. Reconciling them each cycle — and identifying where a single accredited course can satisfy several states — takes considerable time and leaves room for costly oversights.
This planner consolidates the entire picture. Select the states you're licensed in below and it maps each board's requirements, identifies where a single accredited course satisfies multiple jurisdictions, flags the states that mandate a board-specific course, and schedules your CME so every license is compliant well ahead of its renewal.
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Select the states you hold a full medical license in
What counts as a "full license" here
These are the CME requirements for a full (unrestricted) MD/DO medical license. Special-purpose registrations — such as out-of-state telehealth registrations (e.g. Florida, Colorado) — have their own, generally lighter rules and usually don't carry these CME mandates. If your only credential in a state is a telehealth or limited registration, check that board's specific rules.
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A few quick questions
These change which requirements apply to you — and how much CME you actually owe. Answer for your real practice.
Start by selecting your states above
Once you pick a state, its requirements and your timing plan appear here.
Enter (or adjust) the month your license next comes up for renewal in each state. We'll figure out the fewest, best-timed CME sessions to keep every state's opioid / controlled-substance requirement satisfied for the next 5 years — and how many credits each session needs.
Applies to you Only if it applies to your practiceBoard approval needs a state-approved/specific courseDISCREPANCY / AGGREGATOR verify on the board page
Six things physicians get wrong about multi-state CME
Common assumptions that show up in board audits — and what the rules actually say.
Myth“If I’m compliant in my home state, I’m compliant everywhere.”
Every board writes its own rules. Total hours, mandated topics, and renewal cycles all differ from state to state — and seven states (KY, LA, MA, OR, TN, UT, WV) will only accept a board-approved or state-specific course for at least one mandate, so even a topic you’ve already covered elsewhere may not count there. Each license has to satisfy its own board independently. Select your states above to see exactly what each one asks of you.
Myth“The DEA’s 8-hour MATE training took care of my state CME.”
Those are two different obligations. The MATE Act training is a one-time, federal condition of holding a DEA registration (8 hours on treating opioid and other substance-use disorders, in effect for registrations and renewals since June 27, 2023 — and prior DATA-waiver training counts toward it). State opioid/controlled-substance CME is separate and usually recurring. Many boards do let one accredited course count toward both at once — but that’s each state’s call, not an automatic pass, and the state-specific-course states above are the usual exceptions.
One thing that does usually carry over, timed right: a MATE-qualifying course has to come from an ACCME (or equivalent) accredited provider to count federally — and those same hours will typically also count toward a state’s general CME hour total, even in states where they don’t satisfy the specific opioid/CS-topic mandate on their own. General CME pools are almost always topic-agnostic: hours are hours. Confirm the credit type your board accepts before relying on this.
Myth“I still need an X-waiver to prescribe buprenorphine.”
The X-waiver (DATA waiver) was eliminated by Section 1262 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023. Any prescriber whose standard DEA registration includes Schedule III authority may now prescribe buprenorphine for opioid use disorder, subject to state law — no separate federal waiver, no patient cap. What replaced it is the MATE training above. Note that a few states layer their own addiction-medicine CME on MOUD prescribers — flip the buprenorphine/MOUD toggle above to surface those.
Myth“I took an opioid course once — I’m done for good.”
Usually not. In our 51-jurisdiction dataset, only seven states make their core opioid/controlled-substance requirement one-time (CA, GA, LA, MD, OR, RI, WA); everywhere else it repeats every renewal cycle, and cycles run anywhere from 1 to 5 years. Hold three licenses and you may owe the same topic on three different clocks — which is exactly what the timing plan above is built to line up, so one well-timed course restarts as many clocks as possible.
Myth“For telehealth, my home-state license is the one that matters.”
As a rule, you must be authorized to practice where the patient is located at the time of the visit — not where you sit. Some states offer lighter telehealth-specific registrations (e.g. Florida, Colorado) with their own rules and generally without full-license CME; others expect a full license, which brings that state’s full CME load with it. If you prescribe controlled substances via telehealth, also check the destination state’s PDMP and prescribing rules.
Myth“My employer / my CME tracker keeps me compliant.”
Helpful, but the responsibility never transfers: board audits are addressed to the licensee, and it’s your license on the line if a course turns out not to qualify. Keep your own certificates (a consistent file name like 2026-03-10_CS-Prescribing_3hr.pdf saves real pain later) and keep a one-page map of which course satisfied which state — the audit crosswalk button in your plan above generates one you can file or hand straight to an auditor.