Michigan Physical Therapist Assistant license renewal and CE requirements

Summary

Michigan physical therapist assistants must complete 24 contact hours of continuing education every three years to renew their license with the Michigan Board of Physical Therapy (LARA Bureau of Professional Licensing). Under the physical therapy rules effective March 5, 2026 the renewal cycle is three years. R 338.7002(3) lists Physical Therapy licenses issued or renewed on or after the effective date of those rules as expiring triennially on the issue date, and R 338.7161(2) is written around the 3-year period immediately before the license expiration date. Renewal is completed online through MiPLUS. Michigan also mandates specific subjects. Pain and symptom management: 1 contact hour every renewal cycle. Implicit bias training: 3 contact hours every renewal cycle. Training in identifying victims of human trafficking: a one-time requirement.

Michigan Physical Therapist Assistant 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.

Michigan counts professional development requirement (PDR) credits. R 338.7161(2), as amended effective March 5, 2026 (2026 MR 5), states that an applicant for license renewal licensed in the 3-year period immediately before the expiration date shall accumulate not less than 36 PDR credits if the applicant is a physical therapist and not less than 24 PDR credits if the applicant is a physical therapist assistant. The two figures are in separate lettered subparagraphs, so 24 is read as the physical therapist assistant number. For approved continuing education, when the sponsor calculates credit at 0.1 credit per 50 to 60 minutes of instruction, 0.1 credit equals 1 PDR credit, so a PDR credit is about one contact hour. No more than 12 PDR credits are allowed for approved online continuing education programs completed in one 24-hour period, which is a per-day limit rather than a cap on total online credit, so max_self_study_or_online is null. Credit is not given twice for an equivalent or substantially equivalent program in the same renewal period. R 338.7163(5) gives physical therapist assistants their own activity table with caps lower than the physical therapist table: approved continuing education is capped at 20 credits for a PTA against 30 for a PT, journal reading at 6 against 9, media at 6 against 9, and presentations, authorship, and most other activities at 12 against 18. The rules read state no carryover provision and no first-renewal exemption; a waiver request may be submitted to the department at least 30 days before the last board meeting before expiration.

Required CE topics for Michigan physical therapist assistants

State-specific subject mandates. Where a mandate applies only to some licensees, the scope is listed.

Documentation and audit

Common questions

How many CE hours does a Michigan PTA need to renew?

Michigan physical therapist assistants must complete 24 contact hours of continuing education every three years to renew their license with the Michigan Board of Physical Therapy (LARA Bureau of Professional Licensing). Michigan counts professional development requirement (PDR) credits. R 338.7161(2), as amended effective March 5, 2026 (2026 MR 5), states that an applicant for license renewal licensed in the 3-year period immediately before the expiration date shall accumulate not less than 36 PDR credits if the applicant is a physical therapist and not less than 24 PDR credits if the applicant is a physical therapist assistant. The two figures are in separate lettered subparagraphs, so 24 is read as the physical therapist assistant number. For approved continuing education, when the sponsor calculates credit at 0.1 credit per 50 to 60 minutes of instruction, 0.1 credit equals 1 PDR credit, so a PDR credit is about one contact hour. No more than 12 PDR credits are allowed for approved online continuing education programs completed in one 24-hour period, which is a per-day limit rather than a cap on total online credit, so max_self_study_or_online is null. Credit is not given twice for an equivalent or substantially equivalent program in the same renewal period. R 338.7163(5) gives physical therapist assistants their own activity table with caps lower than the physical therapist table: approved continuing education is capped at 20 credits for a PTA against 30 for a PT, journal reading at 6 against 9, media at 6 against 9, and presentations, authorship, and most other activities at 12 against 18. The rules read state no carryover provision and no first-renewal exemption; a waiver request may be submitted to the department at least 30 days before the last board meeting before expiration.

How often does a Michigan PTA license need to be renewed?

Physical Therapist Assistant licenses in Michigan renew every three years. Under the physical therapy rules effective March 5, 2026 the renewal cycle is three years. R 338.7002(3) lists Physical Therapy licenses issued or renewed on or after the effective date of those rules as expiring triennially on the issue date, and R 338.7161(2) is written around the 3-year period immediately before the license expiration date. Renewal is completed online through MiPLUS.

What specific CE topics are required for Michigan physical therapist assistants?

Pain and symptom management: 1 contact hour every renewal cycle. Implicit bias training: 3 contact hours every renewal cycle. Training in identifying victims of human trafficking: a one-time requirement. Citations: pain and symptom management (R 338.7163(1)(c); MCL 333.16204(2)), implicit bias training (R 338.7004(2); R 338.7163(1)(d)), and training in identifying victims of human trafficking (R 338.7126; MCL 333.16148).

Do Michigan physical therapist assistants have to submit CE certificates at renewal?

Licensees attest to completion at renewal rather than submitting certificates, the board audits a sample of renewals and asks for documentation, and records must be kept for 4 years. Submitting the renewal application is the applicant's certification of compliance, and a licensee keeps documentation for 4 years after the date of applying for renewal (R 338.7161(3)). A continuing education program is approved, regardless of format, if it is approved or offered for continuing education credit by another state board of physical therapy, another board or task force regulated under article 15 of the Public Health Code, FSBPT, APTA or its components including APTA Michigan, or an accredited physical therapist or physical therapist assistant educational program (R 338.7163(5)). If audited, the licensee provides a certificate showing name, credits earned, sponsor or approving organization, and dates. The Bureau partners with CE Broker for tracking.

Sources

Last verified September 8, 2026. Every value above was read from one of these.

• Michigan Administrative Code, Physical Therapy General Rules R 338.7101 to R 338.7163 (2026 MR 5, effective March 5, 2026), including R 338.7161(2)(b) and the physical therapist assistant activity table in R 338.7163(5), served as HTML by the LARA Administrative Rules SystemStatute or administrative rule, accessed September 8, 2026
• Michigan Administrative Code, Bureau of Professional Licensing general rules R 338.7001 to R 338.7005, including R 338.7002 triennial renewal and R 338.7004 implicit bias training standards, served as HTML by the LARA Administrative Rules SystemStatute or administrative rule, accessed September 8, 2026
• Physical Therapy, Michigan Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs (Physical Therapist Assistant Licensing Guide and FAQs, CE Broker tracking, MiPLUS renewal)State board page, accessed September 8, 2026

The 24 PDR credit figure was read as a physical therapist assistant figure in R 338.7161(2)(b), which sits directly under the 36 credit physical therapist figure in R 338.7161(2)(a), in the current rule set carrying the history line 2026 MR 5, Eff. March 5, 2026. Physical therapist assistants also have their own activity table with their own caps in R 338.7163(5), separate from the physical therapist table in R 338.7163(4). The Cornell LII mirror of R 338.7161 still shows the superseded 2023 text (24 PDR credits over a 2-year period, with no PT and PTA split) and the Cornell mirror of R 338.7002 predates the physical therapy triennial transition, so no Cornell mirror is cited for Michigan. The current rule text was read on the state's own Administrative Rules System, which serves these rule sets as HTML when the ReturnHTML parameter is used; the responses are text/html and no PDF was downloaded. The renewal basis comes from R 338.7002(3), which lists Physical Therapy as a whole rather than naming physical therapist assistants separately, and is corroborated by R 338.7161(2) and R 338.7149, which both work from a 3-year period. LARA's physical therapy page returned HTTP 403 to one fetcher but loaded over a normal HTTP request; it links the Physical Therapist Assistant Licensing Guide and FAQs only as a PDF at https://www.michigan.gov/lara/-/media/Project/Websites/lara/bpl/Physical-Therapy/Licensing-Info-and-Forms/Physical-Therapy-Assistant-Licensing-Guide-FAQ-12626.pdf, which was not opened, so the PTA renewal fee and the board's plain-language renewal instructions are not recorded and renewal_url is null. Not stated in the rules read: carryover, a first-renewal exemption, an overall online cap, or a live-hours minimum.