Colorado Nurse Practitioner CE Requirements

Renewal cycle

2 years (biennial); RN/APRN licenses expire September 30 of even-numbered years

Total CE hours

No state-mandated total CE hours for RN or APRN license renewal. Colorado defers to maintenance of national certification for APRNs (certifying-body requirements apply, e.g. ANCC recertification). The only state-mandated training is the 2-hour substance use prevention requirement for prescribers (see below).

Pharmacology CE

None mandated by the state for renewal. I read 3 CCR 716-1.15 (Prescriptive Authority rules) directly: renewal of Full Prescriptive Authority (RXN) occurs with license renewal and requires the substance use prevention training, but NO ongoing pharmacology CE hours are specified. (Some CE-vendor sites claim 5 pharmacology hours per cycle; that figure does not appear in the official rules I read — pharmacology requirements in rule 1.15 apply to INITIAL prescriptive authority: 3 graduate semester hours of pharmacology coursework plus a 750-hour mentorship for provisional RXN.) Pharmacology CE may still be required by the APRN's national certifying body (e.g. ANCC 25 pharm hours per 5-year recertification).

Controlled-substance CE

2 hours of substance use prevention training per renewal period for APRNs with prescriptive authority (RXN), per 3 CCR 716-1.23 implementing C.R.S. 12-30-114(1)(a) — confirmed in the official rule text ("at least two hours of training per renewal period"). Flexible formats allowed (CE courses, self-study of scholarly articles/guidelines, peer review involving opioid prescribing, teaching, conference attendance). Attestation at renewal; subject to audit. Separately, the federal DEA MATE Act one-time 8-hour SUD training applies to DEA registrants.

Good to know

The official DPO Colorado site blocks automated access (403), so rule text was verified via Cornell LII's mirror of 3 CCR 716-1. Key nuance: vendor sites (nursece4less, NetCE) claim '5 pharmacology contact hours per cycle' for prescribers, but the official prescriptive-authority rule (1.15) I read contains no such renewal requirement — treat the 5-hour figure as unverified/likely erroneous or outdated. For a PMHNP the practical pharm CE burden in Colorado comes from ANCC recertification, not the state. Colorado is an NLC compact state for RN; APRN licensed separately with RXN designation.

Official sources