MD/DO · Requirements & free courses
Connecticut requires 50 hours every 2 years for MD/DO renewal, including 3 topic-specific mandates. Every one of them has a free option below unless we say otherwise.
Each requirement below is paired with activities we opened and verified ourselves.
1 hour; required topics rotate by cycle.
Our finding: No free option exists. We checked every provider on both the NYSDOH and NYSED approved lists — all four pages — and every online provider is commercial and fee-based. The Medical Society of the State of New York course is the standard physician choice at $50, free only to MSSNY members. Project Firstline NY is genuinely free but is aimed at frontline staff, does not present itself as the mandated four-hour course, and does not document Category 1 credit.
1 hour; required topics rotate by cycle.
Mass General Brigham
The most efficient option for Massachusetts: 2 credits that satisfy the one-time implicit bias requirement AND double-count toward the 10-credit risk management requirement.
Mass General Brigham
Fulfills the Massachusetts end-of-life requirement and carries risk management credit at the same time.
AHRQ Patient Safety Network (CME by UC Davis Health)
1 credit per case, new cases published roughly monthly plus a large back catalog. The single best free source for Pennsylvania's 12 patient safety hours and Massachusetts risk management credit. Carries ABIM MOC.
Heads up: Spotlight Cases older than three years stay readable but their quizzes are disabled, so only cases from roughly the last three years actually yield credit. Also does NOT satisfy Florida's Prevention of Medical Errors requirement, which has board-prescribed content.
Our finding: Florida's two-hour Prevention of Medical Errors course has board-prescribed content — the five most-misdiagnosed conditions, root cause analysis, and more. No generic patient safety course satisfies it, and every Florida-approved provider we checked charges. The cheapest verified option was $9.95. AHRQ PSNet is an excellent free substitute for Pennsylvania and Massachusetts credit, but not for Florida.
More options on the patient safety page.
1 hour; required topics rotate by cycle.
Pri-Med Institute
Also carries 1.00 ABIM MOC point. A plausible fit for Nevada, Utah, Connecticut and Oregon when combined with other activities.
Heads up: Does NOT by itself satisfy Washington's 6-hour Department of Health model-list requirement. Expires 9/25/2026 — check before starting.
Our finding: This is the thinnest free market of any mandated topic, and most of what the internet still recommends is dead. We verified and rejected six widely-cited free courses that have expired or been retired, including a six-hour Washington DOH model-list course that expired in 2021 but is still linked everywhere. Washington's six-hour requirement in particular has no free path we could verify.
More options on the suicide prevention page.
A one-time 8 hours on substance use disorders, required of every DEA-registered practitioner regardless of state, due at your next registration or renewal. The attestation does not recur — you will not be asked again at future DEA renewals.
PCSS / American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry
Bundle worth up to 15 credits; 8 are needed for the DEA attestation.
PCSS / Opioid Response Network
14 stand-alone modules, roughly 0.75–1.25 credits each. Take only what you need.
You may already be covered. The requirement is satisfied without new coursework if you are board certified in addiction medicine or addiction psychiatry, graduated within the past five years from a qualifying program whose curriculum included the required content, or previously completed DATA-2000 waiver training.
More at MATE Act options.
Boards revise requirements mid-cycle and interpret them differently. Confirm against your own board’s current rules — find yours here — before counting an activity toward renewal.