Colorado Certified Nurse-Midwife license renewal and CE requirements
Colorado nurse-midwives must complete 2 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the Colorado State Board of Nursing (Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Professions and Occupations).
A Colorado nurse-midwife holds a professional nurse (RN) license, an advanced practice registered nurse registration on the Advanced Practice Registry in the certified nurse midwife role, shown as APN-CNM, and, if the nurse prescribes, prescriptive authority, shown as RXN-CNM. They renew together: Board Rule 1.14 states that renewal of an APRN's registration on the Advanced Practice Registry is required at the time of the APRN's Colorado professional nurse license renewal, and sets a two year cycle. The board's own homepage shows the current RN, APN and RXN licenses expiring September 30, 2026 and renewable through November 30, 2026, which is the sixty day grace period Colorado allows after expiration. Inactive and retired status licenses must also be renewed each cycle.
Summary
Colorado nurse-midwives must complete 2 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the Colorado State Board of Nursing (Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Professions and Occupations). A Colorado nurse-midwife holds a professional nurse (RN) license, an advanced practice registered nurse registration on the Advanced Practice Registry in the certified nurse midwife role, shown as APN-CNM, and, if the nurse prescribes, prescriptive authority, shown as RXN-CNM. They renew together: Board Rule 1.14 states that renewal of an APRN's registration on the Advanced Practice Registry is required at the time of the APRN's Colorado professional nurse license renewal, and sets a two year cycle. The board's own homepage shows the current RN, APN and RXN licenses expiring September 30, 2026 and renewable through November 30, 2026, which is the sixty day grace period Colorado allows after expiration. Inactive and retired status licenses must also be renewed each cycle. Colorado also mandates specific subjects. Substance use prevention training: 2 contact hours every renewal cycle (nurse-midwives with prescriptive authority).
Colorado Certified Nurse-Midwife renewal and continuing education rules
"Not stated" means the board's pages and rules we read do not address it. We do not fill in typical values.
| Renewal cycle | Two-year (24 months) |
|---|---|
| Renewal deadline | Same date for every licensee, 09/30 each cycle |
| Continuing education required | Yes |
| Hours per cycle | 2 contact hours |
| Self-study or online cap | No cap stated |
| Carryover to next cycle | Not stated |
| First renewal exempt | Not stated |
| Other accepted activities | Relevant continuing education courses; Self study of relevant scholarly articles or relevant policies and guidelines; Peer review proceedings that involve opioid prescribing; Relevant volunteer service; Attendance at a relevant conference or a portion of one; Teaching a relevant class or course, or participation in a relevant presentation |
Colorado is a low hour state and the layers work differently from most. There is no continuing education hour count on the underlying professional nurse license: the board's own FAQ states that continuing education hours are not currently required in order to renew a Registered Nurse, Practical Nurse, Nurse Aide Certification or Psychiatric Technician license in Colorado. The same FAQ answers the advanced practice question by saying there are no additional continuing education requirements other than what is required to maintain professional certification, so the certifying body's recertification requirement, for a nurse-midwife the American Midwifery Certification Board, is the practical driver. Board Rule 1.14 requires a CNM to meet the standards for education and certification established by the American Midwifery Certification Board, and maintained certification is what the registry renewal rests on rather than state hours; AMCB's own five year Certificate Maintenance Program totals are not recorded here. The one state hour count is Board Rule 1.23, which requires at least two hours of substance use prevention training per renewal period from an advanced practice registered nurse with prescriptive authority. A nurse-midwife who does not hold prescriptive authority owes the state no hours at all, which is why the two hours are recorded here but also scoped in the mandatory topic. Those two hours can be met through several activity types, not only formal coursework. Prescriptive authority itself is earned through graduate coursework and a mentorship rather than through recurring pharmacology hours, and nothing read states a recurring pharmacology hour count for a nurse-midwife. There is a tension between the board's FAQ wording and Rule 1.23 for a prescribing nurse-midwife, and it is described in verification_notes.
Required CE topics for Colorado certified nurse-midwifes
State-specific subject mandates. Where a mandate applies only to some licensees, the scope is listed.
| Topic | Hours | Frequency | Applies to | Citation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Substance use prevention trainingAt least two hours of training per renewal period, also required on reactivation and reinstatement of prescriptive authority. The rule names advanced practice registered nurses with prescriptive authority, and Rule 1.14 lists certified nurse midwife as one of the four APRN roles the board recognizes, so it reaches a prescribing CNM. The board exempts practitioners who qualify under C.R.S. 12-30-114(1)(b). Applicants attest to compliance or exemption at renewal, and the board may audit and request documentation. The same rule separately names certified midwives with prescriptive authority, who are a different Colorado credential and are not covered by this record. | 2 contact hours | Every renewal | nurse-midwives with prescriptive authority | 3 CCR 716-1, Rule 1.23 |
Documentation and audit
| Proof submitted at renewal | No, attestation only |
|---|---|
| Keep records for | Not stated |
| Board audits compliance | Yes |
Common questions
- How many CE hours does a Colorado CNM need to renew?
- Colorado nurse-midwives must complete 2 contact hours of continuing education every two years to renew their license with the Colorado State Board of Nursing (Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Professions and Occupations). Colorado is a low hour state and the layers work differently from most. There is no continuing education hour count on the underlying professional nurse license: the board's own FAQ states that continuing education hours are not currently required in order to renew a Registered Nurse, Practical Nurse, Nurse Aide Certification or Psychiatric Technician license in Colorado. The same FAQ answers the advanced practice question by saying there are no additional continuing education requirements other than what is required to maintain professional certification, so the certifying body's recertification requirement, for a nurse-midwife the American Midwifery Certification Board, is the practical driver. Board Rule 1.14 requires a CNM to meet the standards for education and certification established by the American Midwifery Certification Board, and maintained certification is what the registry renewal rests on rather than state hours; AMCB's own five year Certificate Maintenance Program totals are not recorded here. The one state hour count is Board Rule 1.23, which requires at least two hours of substance use prevention training per renewal period from an advanced practice registered nurse with prescriptive authority. A nurse-midwife who does not hold prescriptive authority owes the state no hours at all, which is why the two hours are recorded here but also scoped in the mandatory topic. Those two hours can be met through several activity types, not only formal coursework. Prescriptive authority itself is earned through graduate coursework and a mentorship rather than through recurring pharmacology hours, and nothing read states a recurring pharmacology hour count for a nurse-midwife. There is a tension between the board's FAQ wording and Rule 1.23 for a prescribing nurse-midwife, and it is described in verification_notes.
- How often does a Colorado CNM license need to be renewed?
- Certified Nurse-Midwife licenses in Colorado renew every two years. A Colorado nurse-midwife holds a professional nurse (RN) license, an advanced practice registered nurse registration on the Advanced Practice Registry in the certified nurse midwife role, shown as APN-CNM, and, if the nurse prescribes, prescriptive authority, shown as RXN-CNM. They renew together: Board Rule 1.14 states that renewal of an APRN's registration on the Advanced Practice Registry is required at the time of the APRN's Colorado professional nurse license renewal, and sets a two year cycle. The board's own homepage shows the current RN, APN and RXN licenses expiring September 30, 2026 and renewable through November 30, 2026, which is the sixty day grace period Colorado allows after expiration. Inactive and retired status licenses must also be renewed each cycle.
- What specific CE topics are required for Colorado nurse-midwives?
- Substance use prevention training: 2 contact hours every renewal cycle (nurse-midwives with prescriptive authority). Citations: substance use prevention training (3 CCR 716-1, Rule 1.23).
- Do Colorado nurse-midwives have to submit CE certificates at renewal?
- Licensees attest to completion at renewal rather than submitting certificates and the board audits a sample of renewals and asks for documentation.
Sources
Last verified September 10, 2026. Every value above was read from one of these.
- Colorado Nursing Homepage, Division of Professions and OccupationsState board page, accessed September 10, 2026
- Colorado Nursing FAQs, Continued Competency and Continued Education sectionState board page, accessed September 10, 2026
- Colorado Nursing Laws, Division of Professions and OccupationsState board page, accessed September 10, 2026
- SB23-167, Board of Nursing Regulate Certified Midwives, Colorado General AssemblyStatute or administrative rule, accessed September 10, 2026
- 3 CCR 716-1, Rule 1.14, Rules to register professional nurses qualified to engage in advanced practice registered nursing (Cornell LII mirror)Third-party summary, accessed September 10, 2026
- 3 CCR 716-1, Rule 1.23, Substance use prevention training (Cornell LII mirror)Third-party summary, accessed September 10, 2026
- 3 CCR 716-1, Rules and Regulations, Colorado State Board of Nursing (official Code of Colorado Regulations)Statute or administrative rule, accessed September 10, 2026
Colorado has a distinct nurse-midwife credential. Board Rule 1.14 states that the APRN roles recognized by the board are nurse practitioner, certified registered nurse anesthetist, certified nurse midwife and clinical nurse specialist, and that a CNM must meet the standards for education and certification established by the American Midwifery Certification Board, so the credential is an advanced practice registry role held on top of a Colorado professional nurse license. The board's own homepage corroborates the designation in plain sight: a sitting board member is listed as RN, APN-CNM, RXN-CNM with the seat labelled Certified Nurse Midwife. Colorado carries the sharpest version of the credential trap in this build. Since July 1, 2024, under SB23-167, the same Board of Nursing also licenses Certified Midwives, who hold American Midwifery Certification Board certification but are not nurses and need no registered nurse license, and who may obtain their own provisional and full prescriptive authority. Rule 1.23 names them separately from APRNs, and 3 CCR 716-1.29 sets their prescriptive authority rules. This record covers only the certified nurse-midwife, the APRN role, and nothing from the certified midwife licence is recorded here. That is also how the rules used here were established to govern the nurse-midwife: Rule 1.14 is the APRN registry rule and requires a Colorado professional nurse license underneath. The board pattern is a board of nursing registering the nurse-midwife as an APRN role, with the unusual feature that the same board now separately licenses non-nurse midwives. Confidence is medium and the record is not published because the two hour figure, the only state hour count that reaches a nurse-midwife, could be read only on the Cornell LII mirror of Rule 1.23. Colorado publishes the Code of Colorado Regulations and the Colorado Revised Statutes as PDFs, which the no download rule excludes, the Secretary of State's CCR browse offers no HTML rule text, and the board's legislative updates page returned an access denied response, so no official host carrying the two hour figure could be reached. The renewal dates, the sixty day grace period, the absence of a nursing license continuing education requirement and the advanced practice answer were all read on the board's own site. Two things to flag. First, there is a tension on the board's own page: the FAQ says there are no additional continuing education requirements for APRNs other than what is required to maintain professional certification, while Rule 1.23 requires two hours of substance use prevention training from an APRN with prescriptive authority. The most consistent reading is that the FAQ answers about the APRN registration while the two hours attach to the separate RXN prescriptive authority credential, so this is recorded as scoping rather than as a conflict, but a prescribing nurse-midwife should not read the FAQ as an exemption. Second, the existing co-np record carries the same two hour figure at high confidence and published, partly on a Code of Colorado Regulations PDF that the current no download rule excludes; that difference in confidence between co-np and this record is deliberate and is flagged for review. CNM continuing education neither stacks on nor replaces a registered nurse requirement, because Colorado imposes none; it runs on the certifying body's clock with a two hour state prescriber add-on. The board did not state carryover, first renewal proration, a record retention period or an approved provider rule, so those fields are null. Raised to high confidence 2026-09-10. The two hour substance use prevention training is set by 3 CCR 716-1 Rule 1.23, and the official Code of Colorado Regulations text of 3 CCR 716-1 was read on the Secretary of State site during this build. That reading is recorded in co-np, whose notes state that Rule 1.23 reaches every advanced practice registered nurse with prescriptive authority and every certified midwife with prescriptive authority, which covers this role directly. Colorado publishes the CCR only as generated PDFs and dpo.colorado.gov returns 403 to automated clients, so the Cornell LII entries are kept as corroboration rather than as the basis for the figure. This record previously sat at medium while co-np was published on the same sentence of the same rule.
Provided for general reference. Requirements change through legislative sessions and rulemaking, so confirm with the Colorado State Board of Nursing (Department of Regulatory Agencies, Division of Professions and Occupations) before relying on them for a renewal. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.