Alabama CME Requirements for Psychiatrists
Reviewed by CME Psychiatry Center editorsLast reviewed against the Alabama medical board1 primary sourceHow we verify
Alabama requirements for all physicians
- 25 AMA PRA Category 1 (or AOA Category 1-A or equivalent) credits every calendar year (January 1 to December 31)
- Credits cannot be carried over to the next year
- Holders of an Alabama Controlled Substances Certificate (ACSC) must complete 2 AMA PRA Category 1 credits every 2 years in controlled substance prescribing practices, recognizing abuse or misuse of controlled substances, or controlled substance prescribing for chronic pain (applies even if otherwise exempt from the 25-credit requirement)
- Beginning 2025, all actively licensed physicians must complete a one-time 2-hour Board-designated professional boundaries course (deadline December 31, 2025 for existing licensees; within 12 months of licensure for new licensees)
- Exempt from the annual 25 credits: physicians who do not reside or practice in Alabama, those initially licensed that calendar year, residents/fellows in training during the year, deployed military, and holders of retirement or disability waivers
What this means if you are a board-certified psychiatrist in Alabama
- Your Alabama license and your ABPN certificate run on separate clocks: the state rules above are checked at license renewal; ABPN checks 90 CME and 16 SA-CME at the end of each 3-year block. One activity can count for both.
- Any AMA PRA Category 1 activity satisfies both. Only activities on the ABPN Approved CC Activities List earn Self-Assessment credit; topic-specific state hours (ethics, opioids, etc.) satisfy the state but are ordinary CME for ABPN.
- A state-mandated patient-safety or risk-management course can also satisfy the ABPN patient safety requirement; a hospital QI project may satisfy your PIP.
Last reviewed August 23, 2026. State figures come from the Alabama medical board; ABPN figures from the CC Booklet (June 2025) and CC FAQ (April 2026). See the full ABPN CME requirements guide.
ABPN requirements (apply in every state)
Board certification and state licensure are tracked separately. Whatever your state requires below, ABPN Continuing Certification also requires, per 3-year block:
- 90 AMA PRA Category 1 CME credits per 3-year block (average 30 per year) (full CME rules)
- 16 Self-Assessment (SA) CME credits per block, counted within the 90, from the ABPN Approved CC Activities List (what counts as SA)
- One Performance in Practice (PIP) activity per block — a Clinical or Feedback module (how PIP works)
- One Patient Safety activity, one-time, if your first block began in 2017 or later (who it applies to)
- Either the 10-year CC exam or 20 ABCC articles per block (compare the two)
- An unrestricted license and the annual fee ($175 for one certificate) (fees and statuses)
CME from any ACCME-accredited provider counts toward the 90; SA credit only counts from activities on the ABPN list. Read the complete ABPN CME requirements →
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