Georgia CME Requirements for Psychiatrists
Reviewed by CME Psychiatry Center editorsLast reviewed against the Georgia medical board1 primary sourceHow we verify
Georgia requirements for all physicians
- 40 hours of Board-approved CME every 2-year license term (license expires the last day of the birth month)
- Accepted credit: AMA PRA Category 1, AOA Category 1, AAFP Prescribed, ACOG Cognates Category 1, or ACEP Category 1
- Exempt at the first renewal after initial licensure and while enrolled in an ACGME/AOA residency or fellowship
- Physicians with an active DEA certificate who prescribe controlled substances: one-time 3 hours of Category 1 CME on controlled substance prescribing practices (guidelines, recognizing abuse/misuse, chronic pain), certified at the first renewal after licensure (since January 1, 2018); counts toward the 40 hours
- One-time 2-hour course on professional boundaries and physician sexual misconduct, certified at the first renewal after January 1, 2022 or after licensure; counts toward the 40 hours
- Physicians without pain/palliative certification whose opioid pain patients are 50% or more of their practice must complete 20 hours of pain management or palliative medicine CME each biennium
- Waivers: 1 hour per 4 hours of uncompensated care (max 10 per biennium) and 2 hours per Board peer review (max 8); retired physicians providing uncompensated care need 10 hours
What this means if you are a board-certified psychiatrist in Georgia
- Your Georgia 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 Georgia 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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