PA - New Continuing Education Requirement in Child Abuse Recognition and Reporting

You may have recently received a notification from the State of Pennsylvania concerning a new continuing education (CE) requirement for health-related licensees.  This new CE requirement applies to anyone who holds a current Pennsylvania massage therapist license. Under the new requirement, in order to renew your massage license after January 1, 2015, you must have completed two hours of CE in the topic area of child abuse recognition and reporting requirements. You will be able to complete this new CE requirement in online courses that will be made available on the Pennsylvania Department of Public Welfare’s (DPW) website here.  Any course offered by the DPW will be acceptable.   We have not been given a specific date that the courses will become available on the website; you can check the website periodically to see if they have been added. You can avoid this requirement for your upcoming renewal by renewing your license before January 1, 2015.   The board mails renewal notices two to three months prior to the license expiration date, and you can renew your license any time after November 1, 2014.  Anyone who renews on or after January 1, 2015 will be required to complete the two new hours of CE before their license will be renewed. The two hours in child abuse recognition and reporting will count toward your 24 hours of required CE. Therefore, you will only need to complete 22 hours of additional CE in order to renew after January 1, 2015.  The online courses will count toward your 8 hour maximum of online CE; therefore, you will only be able to take six additional CE hours online. Additionally, under the new rule, everyone applying for a massage therapist license for the first time (initial licensees) will be required to complete three hours of DPW-approved training in child abuse recognition and reporting requirements in order to obtain their initial license. Click here to read the notice issued by the State concerning the new CE requirement.  Click here for information about the new CE requirement on the Pennsylvania Massage Board’s website.