North Dakota CME Requirements for Psychiatrists
Reviewed by CME Psychiatry Center editorsLast reviewed against the North Dakota medical board2 primary sourcesHow we verify
North Dakota requirements for all physicians
- 40 hours of board-approved CME every 2 years (N.D. Admin. Code 50-04-01-01, amended effective April 1, 2024; previously 60 hours every 3 years)
- Accepted credit: AMA PRA Category 1 (ACCME-accredited providers), AOA Category 1, AAFP Prescribed/Elective credit, RCPSC Section 1, or other courses the Board approves as equivalent (50-04-01-03)
- No state-mandated CME topics (no opioid, ethics, or other content requirement)
- Physicians licensed more than 1 but less than 2 full years at their first reporting must show 20 hours for that initial period
- Exempt: physicians in accredited residency/fellowship, locum tenens permit and special license holders, physicians who have not yet renewed for the first time, fully retired physicians with an affidavit on file, and physicians holding current ABMS/AOA/RCPSC certification or MOC at the time of audit (50-04-01-02)
- Compliance is reported on the renewal form; random audits, with a $500 fee for failure to document; records must be kept for at least 1 year after reporting
What this means if you are a board-certified psychiatrist in North Dakota
- Your North Dakota 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 North Dakota 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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