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Colorado Podiatry Board: Continuing Education and Ongoing Professional Development

All Podiatrists with an active license are required to complete Continuing Education and Ongoing Professional Development in order to renew, reinstate, or reactivate a license to practice podiatry in the state of Colorado. 

Continuing Education

Each license period, podiatrists must complete a minimum of ten (10) hours of continuing education sufficient to maintain currency in the field of podiatry. This requirement becomes effective immediately upon licensure and must be completed before a license is renewed. 

Ongoing Professional Development

Effective immediately upon licensure AND IN ADDITION TO Continuing Education requirements, podiatrists must demonstrate Ongoing Professional Development in order to renew a license by one of the following three methods:

1.  The Continued Competency (CC) Program

  • Complete the Reflective Self-Assessment Tool (RSAT).
  • Establish learning goals and complete the Learning Goals Tool.
  • Complete the ten (10) required CE hours  and ensure that they are in line with your learning goals.  Retain documentation of the completed CE activities.
  • Complete one of the following Board-approved Assessment of Knowledge and Skill (AKS) once every five (5) years:
    • The current version of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons (AAOS) Orthopedic Self-Assessment Examination
    • The Podiatry Insurance Company of America (PICA) home study (current version)
    • If an AKS delivers CE credit, that credit may count toward the 10 CE hours required for the corresponding license period.

2.  Deemed Status

  • Licensed podiatrists who are certified by one of the following listed institutions, and participate in that institution’s maintenance of competency process, shall be deemed by to have satisfied the Board's ongoing professional development requirements:
    • American Board of Foot and Ankle Surgery (ABFAS)
      • Board Qualified Status
      • Board Certified Status
    • American Board of Podiatric Medicine (ABPM)
      • Board Qualified Status
      • Board Certified Status
  • Deemed status does not relieve affected podiatrists of the requirement to complete ten (10) CE hours.

3.  Active Duty Military Exemption

  • If you were called to federally-funded active duty for more than 120 days for the purpose of serving in a war, emergency or contingency, you may be eligible for an exemption from CE and Ongoing Professional Development requirements.

**Audits of compliance will be conducted after a renewal period ends.**

Ongoing Professional Development Resources

Substance Use Prevention Training

Every podiatrist is required to complete at least one (1) hour per renewal period of training to demonstrate competency pertaining to:

  • best practices for opioid prescribing
  • potential harm of inappropriately limiting prescriptions to chronic pain patients
  • best practices for prescribing benzodiazepines
  • recognition of substance use disorders
  • referral of patients with substance use disorders for treatment
  • use of the electronic prescription drug monitoring program

Substance Use Prevention Training includes but is not limited to: relevant continuing education courses; self-study of relevant scholarly articles or relevant policies/guidelines; peer review proceedings that involve opioid prescribing; attendance at a relevant conference (or portion of a conference); teaching a relevant class/course; or participation in a relevant presentation, such as with your practice.

All substance use prevention training that also meets the continuing education
requirements specified above may be applied to a licensee’s continuing education renewal requirements.

Podiatrists who meet one of the following conditions may be exempt from Substance Use Prevention Training:

  • Maintains a national board certification that requires equivalent substance use prevention training; or
  • Attests to the board that they do not prescribe opioids.