Opioid Education Requirements for Pennsylvania Healthcare Professionals

Pennsylvania physicians and other health care providers licensed to prescribe and/or dispense opioids must take two hours of education in either pain management, identification of addiction, or safe opioid prescribing practices (prescribers)/safe opioid dispensing practices (dispensers) in order to renew their license. Physicians seeking a Pennsylvania medical license for the first time need to take two hours of education in pain management or identification of addiction AND at least two hours of education in safe opioid prescribing.

Note: If you wish to submit verification for licensure purposes, the documentation/certificates you receive after completing this course should be submitted to your respective credentialing board.

PAMED has comprehensive online education to help physicians meet CME requirements for license renewal.

Important Note on Opioids: 

While PAMED is a course vendor for the opioid education, we do not have permission to report opioid training to the licensing boards. 🛑 Licensees must self-report or self-attest to completion as follows:

• Initial license applicants should report opioids training documentation verifying they have completed the required 4 hours of opioids education through their PALS profile within 12 months of the initial license being issued. If you locate the “Activities” section of the PALS profile, you can click the blue plus sign next to the application number to view the application checklist and guidance for uploading documents to the Boards.  
• Renewing licensees attest through the license renewal process that they have completed the required 2 hours of opioids education by answering specific questions related to CME requirements. Renewing licensees do not routinely upload any documentation at the time of renewal; the licensee will receive a discrepancy notice from PALS if documentation is required or clarification is needed related to the education requirements or any other information.  

• Analyze your prescribing practices
• Identify when and why to prescribe opioid medications
• Address the use of Naloxone as an opioid antidote
• Assess Naloxone prescribing options and best practices
• Discuss co-prescribing opioids and Naloxone with patients
• Identify how Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs can increase the quality of patient care
• Describe the operation of Pennsylvania's PDMP
• Review prescriber roles and responsibilities, including when to query the PDMP
• Discuss third-party access to the PDMP and safeguards to protect the Program data
• Incorporate opioid prescribing tools and additional resources into practice

• Analyze your dispensing practices compared to guidelines
• Identify potential dispensing red flags
• Address the use of Naloxone as an opioid antidote
• Assess Naloxone dispensing options and best practices
• Discuss co-dispensing opioids and Naloxone with patients
• Identify how Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs can increase the quality of patient care
• Describe the operation of Pennsylvania's PDMP
• Review dispenser roles and responsibilities for querying and reporting data to the PDMP
• Discuss third-party access to the PDMP and safeguards to protect the Program data
• Incorporate opioid dispensing tools and additional resources into practice

• Address the disease of addiction and Substance Use Disorders
• Explore screening and assessment tools
• Review intervention strategies
• Build skills to talk appropriately with patients
• Assess best practices in referrals to specialists, rehabilitation services, and community resources

• Discuss evidence-based alternatives to opioid therapy for chronic pain management, including non-opioid medications, therapeutic procedures and interventions, physical and manipulative therapy, complementary medicine, and behavioral health.
• Assess recommendations and incorporate alternative therapies into patient care as applicable to achieve a more multi-modal approach to chronic pain management.