IMPORTANT NOTICE: The State of Florida, Department of Health, will audit Physical Therapists and Physical Therapist Assistants for CE course completion using the "CE Broker" system at the end of the current biennium, after November 30, 2013.

Questions on Continuing Education Requirements

1. Q: How many contact hours of continuing education are needed for this licensing period?

A: A minimum of twenty-four (24) hours of approved continuing education which includes 2 hours in Prevention of Medical Errors must be obtained by physical therapists and physical therapist assistants during the current biennium.

2. Q: How many hours of HIV/AIDS are required by the Board?

A: Effective July 1, 2006, the Legislature changed the HIV/AIDS requirements for most health care licensees. A one hour course per biennium used to be required for all licensees and applicants. Starting July 1, 2006, a one hour course in HIV/AIDS is now required to be taken only by new licensees "prior to first license renewal." Licensees can still take the HIV/AIDS course as an elective course.

3. Q: What is the requirement concerning a course in "Medical Errors?"

A: The Florida Legislature requires that all health care licensees of the Florida Department of Health take a two hour course in the prevention of medical errors every biennium. The course must also be taken prior to initial licensure. Our courses have been accredited by the Florida Physical Therapy Association and are accepted for credit by the Florida Physical Therapy Practice Board.

4. Q: Are the Domestic Violence, Laws Rules on the Practice of Physical Therapy, and Health Information Technology courses mandatory?

A: No, these are elective courses that are accepted by the Florida Board of Physical Therapy for continuing education credit. Like all of our courses, they have been reviewed and accredited by the Florida Physical Therapy Association.

5. Q: How many hours of continuing education may be taken by home study?

A: All PTs and PTAs may take no more than 12 hours of home study per biennium. All of our courses are classified as home study.

6. Q: When will I receive my renewal notice from the State?

A: The notices are mailed approximately 90-120 days before the end of the biennium. They are mailed to the last address of record with the Florida Board of Physical Therapy Practice. The Board maintains a "License Verification" page on its website that includes your name, address of record, license number, and status of your license. This is a public record. You can change your address by writing, or e-mailing the Florida Board of Physical Therapy Practice. Here is a link to the Physical Therapy Board Website.

7. Q: What courses must APPLICANTS for Initial Licensure take?

A: Applicants must take a 2 hour course in Prevention of Medical Errors. Applicants for initial licensure may wish to take our Laws and Rules course as a review to help prepare for the state of Florida Laws and Rules exam that all applicants must take. However, if you take this course before you are licensed you do not receive CE credit for it.

8. Q: What are the CE requirements for persons NEWLY LICENSED during the current biennium?

A: Persons certified for licensure in the second half of the biennium are exempt from all continuing education, except that they must take a 2 hour course in Prevention of Medical Errors and the 1 hour HIV/AIDS course. Persons certified for licensure in the first half of the biennium must take all required CE including the Medical Errors courses and the HIV/AIDS course.

Procedures for Ordering the Courses

9. Q: How do I order courses for the first time?

A: On the Order Page, there are three sections: Course Selection, Current Members, and New Member Profile. The first time you order, check the course(s) you want to order and create a New Member Profile for yourself. Remember your user name (login name) and password (case and space sensitive). You'll need these later to login to the Member Login section to access the courses, tests and certificates. To correctly enter your Florida license number, do not use the two or three letter prefix for your profession, or the zeroes that appear before your license number. If you are not licensed in Florida, put in "applicant" or "student." Do not put in the license number from another state or any other word because CE Broker will reject your course completion. Verify your information on the next screen. When correct, press the "Submit Info" button and you'll be sent to a secure site to enter your credit card information.

10. Q: How does the secure site work, and what sort of security is being used for my credit card information?

A: The secure pages where you enter credit card information are hosted by VeriSign, (now owned by PayPal) one of the leading security companies on the net. VeriSign has added a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) to protect these pages. An SSL is an industry standard protocol for encrypting data to prevent eavesdropping or message forging. We have never had any security problems with our orders. And we do not sell or use your personal information in any way. Note: Once you submit your credit card, debit or bank card (VISA or MasterCard logo) information, the approval is almost instantaneous. Do not push the button more than once or you may reorder and be charged again. Once the transaction is completed, the transaction approval page will appear. You will also be e-mailed a Receipt.

11. Q: What do I do after I've paid? / How do I get to my courses?

A: You can go immediately to the Member Login page by using the button at the bottom of the transaction approval page. Enter the login name and password exactly as you entered them during the course purchase. You will be sent to your personal Account page. This page contains a list of courses you ordered and your contact information. For each course, there will be two links. "Review Course Materials" opens the course. "Take the Test" opens the test. You can return to the CEHCPro website home page from any computer, and go to Member Login to access your Account at any time in the future.

12. Q: How do I change my Account profile's contact information?

A: Log in via the Member Login link. Use the "Update Contact Info" button on the bottom of your Account page. Once you have made changes, enter your password to confirm the changes. However, to change or add your Florida license number or to change your name, please send us an e-mail. For security reasons, we need to verify and make these changes.

13. Q: How can I order more courses in the future?

A: Go to the Order the Courses page and check the course(s) you want to add. Then enter your login name and password in the "Current Member" section. Your newly added courses will be placed on your Account page along with your previously ordered courses.

Questions on Course Taking Procedures

14. Q: How long do I have to take the courses and can I print out the course materials?

A: Our courses are self-paced. Take as long as needed to read the courses and complete the tests. You can review the course materials in any format you wish (online, offline, or print out). You can open and close the course and tests as often as needed and from any computer. We do not impose any time limit on how long you have to complete a course; however be mindful of the renewal deadline for your license.

15. Q: What are the testing procedures? / How many times can I take the test?

A: Tests must be taken online. The tests are not timed. All tests in the CEHCPRO system are in a "true / false" format with any blank answers counting as wrong. A score of 70% or more is considered passing. Take the test as many times as necessary to pass. Once you have passed the test, a new window will appear which contains your Certificate of course completion.

16. Q: How do I make a copy of the Certificate of Course Completion for my own records?

A: Log into your Account via the Member Login page, and open the "Certificate of Completion" link. Use the Print button to print a copy of the certificate. You can also copy and paste or e-mail as an attachment. Board rule requires you to keep your certificates and any other proof of taking continuing courses for 4 years.

Information on CE Broker

17. Q: What is "CE Broker"?

A: "CE Broker" is a private company that tracks the continuing education courses taken by all 500,000 health care practitioners licensed by the Florida Department of Health. Several years ago, the Florida Legislature found that many health care licensees were not taking the required CE courses and in 2001 passed a law requiring the Department to set up an "electronic CE tracking system." The Department then contracted with CE Broker which agreed to do the tracking without charging the Department. CE Broker makes money by charging licensed health care professionals $35 to subscribe to its services for two years. All of the approved CE Course Providers, like our company, are required to register their courses with CE Broker. We must then submit the names, license number, courses taken, and other information about the licensees who take our courses to CE Broker. CE Broker then creates a "transcript" for each licensee, showing the course(s) taken and number of hours for each course. This is done for all licensees, whether or not they have subscribed to CE Broker. For more information visit the "CE Broker" website: www.cebroker.com

18. Q: Do health care licensees have to subscribe to "CE Broker" in order to have their license renewed?

A: No, subscription is not mandatory and is completely voluntary, although Department letters to licensees earlier seemed to imply otherwise, and seemed to tie license renewal with membership in "CE Broker." The Department now checks for compliance after a person renews their license. Since all CE providers must report their attendance records to "CE Broker," then "CE Broker" will have a complete transcript for ALL licensees. After the license renewal period ends, the Department electronically obtains the records from "CE Broker" of those with an incomplete transcript and these people are audited. In 2009, Department staff told our President that there is now a special audit unit in the Department of Health to perform these audits.

19. Q: Can I find out my CE records from CE Broker without being a subscriber?

A: No, not unless you subscribe; however, any records of "CE Broker" are "public records" under the state of Florida public records law, Chapter 119, Florida Statutes. The Department of Health has stated that they will provide a "list of courses taken" under the public records law, at the normal public records charge of $.15 a page. To obtain a list of the courses that "CE Broker" has listed for you (without joining CE Broker), send a letter to the following address: Division of Medical Quality Assurance, Management Services, Bin C01, Attention: Public Records-CE History, 4052 Bald Cypress Way, Tallahassee, FL 32399-3251. For further information, see: www.doh.state.fl.us/mqa/Publications/cebroker-FAQ.htm

20. Q: Is "CE for Health Care Professionals" complying with the CE Broker rule?

A: Yes, once you successfully complete a course with us, we immediately, automatically and electronically (our computer to their computer) send our records of course attendance to CE Broker. We are also keeping all of our CE course attendance records in case there is a mix-up or error. Note: We do not send info on Applicants, Students, trainees, temporary licensees or persons licensed in other states to CE Broker, just Florida health care licensees.

21. Q: What is the penalty for not taking the correct number or type of CE credits?

A: The penalty for first violation is a Citation and Fines, which are: a. failure to complete less than 9 hours, a fine of $300; b. failure to complete between 9 and 16 hours, a fine of $600; c. failure to complete 17 and 24 hours, fine of $1,000. Plus pay the Board's cost of investigation. PT Board rule 64B17-7.002.

22. Q: Is there any health care person that "CE Broker" does not apply to?

A: Yes, only health care licensees of the Florida Department of Health are affected. CE Broker does not apply to temporary licenses, limited licenses, and trainees. Applicants for licensure frequently take our CE courses, as needed for initial licensure or review, but the "CE Broker" system does not keep records for these persons. Licensees from other states can take our courses, but their records are not sent to or kept by "CE Broker."

23. Q: Who do I contact if I have additional questions or concerns or need HELP?

A: Contact the support personnel for CE for Health Care Professionals. The contact information is found on the Contact Us page. The easiest way to contact us is to send us an E-mail. We answer that day, sometimes within minutes. Our telephone staff does not have access to your login name and password, so send us an e-mail if you forget these, or have other questions. Include your name and profession. We welcome comments, corrections, and questions, and we will respond. And THANK YOU for taking our courses!

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