MD · Requirements & free courses
Florida requires 40 hours every 2 years for MD renewal, including 4 topic-specific mandates. Every one of them has a free option below unless we say otherwise.
38 general hours plus 2 hours of medical errors.
Each requirement below is paired with activities we opened and verified ourselves.
1 hour — ONE-TIME, due no later than your first renewal (Fla. Stat. § 456.033). If you are past your first renewal you do not repeat this.
Verified at $0.00 on AKH's own price table, where every other course runs $19.95–$159.95. Note Florida's HIV/AIDS mandate is one-time, due by your first renewal — you do not repeat it.
More options on the hiv/aids page.
2 hours from a Florida board-approved provider. Content is prescribed by the board (including the five most-misdiagnosed conditions and root cause analysis) — a generic patient safety course will not count.
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.
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.
2 hours, required every third renewal.
The National LGBTQIA+ Health Education Center, The Fenway Institute
The leading free source of accredited LGBTQIA+ health CME and the strongest match for the District of Columbia's 2-hour requirement. AAFP Prescribed credit is accepted by the AMA as equivalent to Category 1. Also includes a free intimate partner violence panel.
Heads up: Credit eligibility is per-activity — confirm the credit statement inside each module.
Our finding: We could not verify a single activity that is both genuinely free to all physicians and designated AMA PRA Category 1 for this topic. Every candidate failed on price, membership, or expiration. The closest free accredited option is the Fenway Institute's intimate partner violence panel, which carries AAFP Prescribed credit at no cost but is not marketed for Florida or Kentucky board approval. If you need Florida-compliant DV credit, Baptist Health South Florida's course is $9.95 — the cheapest compliant option we found.
More options on the domestic violence page.
2 hours per renewal, required of physicians registered with the DEA. From July 1, 2026 this course must include sickle cell disease pain management content.
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.
NEJM Group / Massachusetts Medical Society
Explicitly satisfies the full one-time 8-hour DEA requirement in a single program. No NEJM or MMS membership needed. Carries ABIM, ABA and ABS MOC.
PCSS / American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry
SAMHSA grant-funded. Completing all 8 courses earns a digital badge that PCSS states fulfills the DEA 8-hour requirement. The landing page designates 9.25 credits generally; AMA PRA Category 1 is among the credit types offered.
More options on the opioids & pain 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.