3.4 License Renewal and Continuing Education

3.4 License Renewal and Continuing Education

Quick Answer: CGS § 20-600 requires 15 contact hours of accredited CE in the previous calendar year, including ≥5 live hours and ≥1 pharmacy/drug law hour. The first year of licensure is exempt. DCP renews pharmacist licenses annually on January 31. The statute in § 20-601(2) (effective July 1, 2025) sets the renewal fee at $105; DCP’s pharmacist page still lists $100. The pharmacy (store) license is a different credential: $750 issuance, $190 renewal, expires August 31.

Area 1.2.1 will mix personal pharmacist renewal with facility pharmacy renewal if you let it. Keep the two licenses on separate calendars.

Continuing education — CGS §§ 20-599 and 20-600

CGS § 20-599 defines the vocabulary:

• Accredited continuing professional education is education designed to maintain professional competence, provided by an organization, institution, or agency approved by the commission.
• A contact hour is fifty to sixty minutes of participation.
• A continuing education unit (CEU) is ten contact hours.

DCP’s CE one-pager matches the arithmetic used in practice: 1 credit or contact hour = 0.1 CEU. Fifteen contact hours are therefore 1.5 CEUs.

CGS § 20-600(a) is the annual rule, with exceptions in subsections (b), (c), (f), and (g). The Commission shall not authorize DCP to renew a pharmacist license unless the pharmacist submits a statement signed under the penalty of false statement that the pharmacist completed not less than fifteen contact hours of accredited CE in the previous calendar year immediately preceding expiration. Of those fifteen:

• Not less than five contact hours must be earned by attendance at a live presentation of an accredited program; and
• At least one of the fifteen contact hours must be on pharmacy law or drug law.

DCP’s CE flyer adds two law-hour details that the statute leaves open: the law hour may be federal law, any state’s pharmacy or drug law, or both, and it may be written or live. Live law therefore can satisfy both the live quota and the law quota in the same hour; a home-study law hour satisfies only the law quota.

The Commission accepts ACPE, CME, CNE, and State Board of Pharmacy programs. ACPE universal program numbers ending in L are live, H are home study/written, and C are mixed (the provider must split live versus written).

Other statutory CE rules that show up as distractors:

• First year exempt. § 20-600(b) — the section does not apply to a pharmacist applying for the first year of a license to practice pharmacy (P.A. 16-117 changed the older “first renewal” phrasing to “first year”).
• No carry-forward. § 20-600(e) — hours earned in one calendar year shall not be carried forward into the next year.
• Keep certificates three years. § 20-600(d) — retain certificates not less than three years after the license is renewed; produce them for a random audit. DCP: pharmacists do not attach CE certificates to the annual renewal; they do produce them for audit or reinstatement.
• Lapse of more than two years. § 20-600(c) — a pharmacist who has not held a Commission-authorized license for more than two years must attest to completing the § 20-600 requirements in each of the years in the two-year period before the year of the renewal application. DCP’s reinstatement page asks for CE certificates for the two years immediately preceding the reinstatement application.
• Waiver / extension. § 20-600(f) — illness, incapacity, or other extenuating circumstances; written request with the renewal application; Commission may waive or extend; failure after an extension can lead to revocation or suspension.
• Retired / inactive. § 20-600(g) — inactive retired license possible; return to active practice requires 30 hours of CE, not less than 10 live, plus a license issued under Chapter 400j.

CGS § 20-600 does not add a separate immunization CE hour to the 15. Immunization authority under § 20-633 is a practice-authority/training rule (Chapter 10), not a second CE statute. Third-party CE vendors sometimes advertise an extra immunization hour; do not treat that marketing as § 20-600.

Pharmacist license expiration and fee — §§ 20-593 and 20-601

CGS § 20-593(a) says the license is evidenced by a certificate. On and after July 1, 2025, subsections (b) and (c), as amended by P.A. 23-204, read:

• (b) A license to practice pharmacy shall expire annually and may be renewed on a department-approved application, payment of the fee required in section 20-601, and completion of CE as required by §§ 20-599 and 20-600.
• (c) The Commission shall not grant a renewal to an applicant who has not held a license authorized by the commission within five years of the date of application unless the applicant has passed an examination satisfactory to the commission and has paid the § 20-601 fee.

DCP’s pharmacist-license page states: Effective July 1, 2022: All licenses will expire annually on January 31st. That is the operational expiration date to memorize for the personal pharmacist (PCT) credential. P.A. 11-121 removed a separate pharmacist examination fee from § 20-601 and pushed some dollar figures out of § 20-593; later acts then restated the renewal fee in § 20-601.

Fee conflict — prefer the current statute and note DCP:

For the MPJE, teach January 31 annual expiration (DCP) and the statutory $105 renewal fee now in § 20-601(2). If a DCP invoice or the live portal still shows $100, that is the conflict to disclose, not a reason to ignore the statute. Issuance of a pharmacist license remains $200 under § 20-601(1). An applicant who has not held a Commission-authorized license within five years pays the issuance fee in subdivision (1), not merely a routine renewal, and must satisfy § 20-593(c).

Lapse and reinstatement

DCP splits reinstatement by how the original Connecticut license was obtained:

• Inactive 2–5 years: online application and fee based on the lapse date, plus CE for the two years immediately before reinstatement.
• Five years or more, originally licensed by examination: online application, $200 reinstatement fee, two years of CE, and successful completion of the MPJE (register through NABP).
• Five years or more, originally licensed by reciprocity: complete the reciprocity process again.

That DCP overlay is how the department implements “an examination satisfactory to the commission” in § 20-593(c) for examination-licensed pharmacists. Reciprocity-origin licenses are sent back through § 20-592 / eLTP, not a short MPJE-only shortcut.

Name, address, and employment changes — five days

RCSA § 20-576-11: any pharmacist (or registered pharmacy technician) changing name or home address shall notify the Commission within five days. RCSA § 20-576-10 requires every pharmacist who commences practice or changes place of employment in Connecticut to report to the department within five days the date of commencement, employer name, practice address, and type of practice. DCP’s change-of-information page combines those duties: notify in writing within five days of changes of name, address, or employment (email to DCP.PharmacistLicense@ct.gov or the published change form).

Do not mix the pharmacy (facility) license into this chapter

Personal pharmacist renewal is not the store’s pharmacy license.

• Pharmacy license issuance: $750 (§ 20-601(3)).
• Pharmacy license renewal: $190 (§ 20-601(4)).
• Pharmacy license expiration: annually on August 31 (DCP / Chapter 18).
• Pharmacy license posting: CGS § 20-609(a) — conspicuously posted in the pharmacy.

A pharmacist who “renews in August because the store renews in August” is using the wrong credential. Facility hours, manager enrollment, and the $750/$190 fees belong in Chapter 18. They appear here only so the January 31 / $105 (or DCP $100) pharmacist file is not confused with the August 31 / $190 pharmacy file.

Realistic Connecticut scenario

A pharmacist licensed in March 2026 files the January 31, 2027 renewal. That first year of licensure is CE-exempt under § 20-600(b). The same pharmacist’s January 31, 2028 renewal requires 15 hours completed in calendar year 2027, including five live and one law. Banking extra 2027 hours for 2028 violates § 20-600(e).

A pharmacist who last held a Connecticut license in 2019 applies to renew in 2026 without sitting an exam. § 20-593(c) blocks a routine renewal: more than five years have passed, so an examination satisfactory to the Commission is required. If that original license was by examination, DCP’s reinstatement page points to the MPJE plus the $200 fee and two years of CE.

A pharmacist marries, changes surname, and waits until the next January renewal to tell DCP. That is late. RCSA § 20-576-11 is a five-day clock, independent of the January 31 renewal.

Official anchors

• CGS § 20-600 and CGS § 20-593.
• CGS § 20-601 fees — $105 pharmacist renewal as of July 1, 2025; $200 issuance; $750/$190 pharmacy facility fees.
• DCP pharmacist license — January 31 expiration; page still lists $100.
• DCP CE one-pager (PDF).