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Montana Certified Nurse-Midwife license renewal and CE requirements

Montana does not require continuing education for CNM license renewal, which happens every two years.

Montana issues a separate APRN license in addition to the registered nurse license. ARM 24.159.1412(5) states that when the board approves a licensed registered nurse's application for APRN licensure, the nurse is issued an APRN license in addition to the current registered nurse license, and the board lists Certified Nurse Midwife as one of the four APRN license types alongside certified nurse practitioner, certified registered nurse anesthetist and clinical nurse specialist. The board states that APRN renewal occurs every other year: an odd licensee must renew by December 31 of odd numbered years and an even licensee by December 31 of even numbered years, with additional fees for applications postmarked or submitted online after that date. The renewal fee is $50 per APRN certification type, and adding a further APRN certification to an existing Montana APRN license costs $75. Prescriptive authority, where the nurse midwife holds it, runs on the same clock: ARM 24.159.1468(1) states that the term of an APRN's prescriptive authority is concurrent with licensure and ends every two years on the date set by ARM 24.101.413, and prescriptive authority not renewed by that date lapses and expires after 45 days, after which the APRN may not prescribe and must reapply.

Renewal cycle
Two-year
Same date for every licensee
CE per cycle
None
no CE requirement
Mandated topics
0
required subjects
Last verified
September 10, 2026
12 days ago

Summary

Montana does not require continuing education for CNM license renewal, which happens every two years. Montana issues a separate APRN license in addition to the registered nurse license. ARM 24.159.1412(5) states that when the board approves a licensed registered nurse's application for APRN licensure, the nurse is issued an APRN license in addition to the current registered nurse license, and the board lists Certified Nurse Midwife as one of the four APRN license types alongside certified nurse practitioner, certified registered nurse anesthetist and clinical nurse specialist. The board states that APRN renewal occurs every other year: an odd licensee must renew by December 31 of odd numbered years and an even licensee by December 31 of even numbered years, with additional fees for applications postmarked or submitted online after that date. The renewal fee is $50 per APRN certification type, and adding a further APRN certification to an existing Montana APRN license costs $75. Prescriptive authority, where the nurse midwife holds it, runs on the same clock: ARM 24.159.1468(1) states that the term of an APRN's prescriptive authority is concurrent with licensure and ends every two years on the date set by ARM 24.101.413, and prescriptive authority not renewed by that date lapses and expires after 45 days, after which the APRN may not prescribe and must reapply.

Montana 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 cycleTwo-year (24 months)
Renewal deadlineSame date for every licensee, 12/31 each cycle
Continuing education requiredNo

Montana requires no continuing education contact hours to renew a nurse midwife license, and none to renew the registered nurse license underneath it, so the layering question does not arise. The Board of Nursing adopted its proposal to repeal the continuing education requirements that were part of the renewal process effective November 18, 2023, and states plainly that licensed practical nurses, registered nurses and APRNs are no longer required to maintain 24 contact hours of continuing education as part of the license renewal process. The rule side matches the announcement: subchapter 24.159.21, titled Renewals and Continuing Education, now contains no effective rules at all. The board's continuing education page repeats that it no longer requires contact hours for renewal and offers free contact hours as a voluntary service, through online modules on the board's role, delegation, the complaint process, the Nurse Licensure Compact, the licensing process, substance use disorder, scope of practice and ethics, approved by the Montana Nurses Association with contact hour approval expiring October 31, 2026. What replaced the hour count is an unquantified competence duty. ARM 24.159.1469, amended effective the same November 18, 2023, states that the APRN is expected to engage in ongoing competence development through formal education, continuing education or clinical practice throughout the APRN's career, and requires the APRN to submit verification of national recertification to the board within 30 days of issuance and to maintain an individualized quality assurance plan relevant to the APRN's role and population focus, practice setting and level of experience, which may include peer review, institutional review or self-assessment, includes methods for maintaining continued competence and evaluating patient outcomes, and meets the standards set by the APRN's national professional organization. For a certified nurse midwife the national certification is from the American Midwifery Certification Board, and its Certificate Maintenance Program totals are not adopted as state hours. National recertification is therefore a condition of holding the license, not a substitute for hours that do not exist.

Required CE topics for Montana certified nurse-midwifes

The Montana Board of Nursing (Department of Labor and Industry, Business Standards Division) pages and rules we read do not mandate specific subject areas for this license type. Hours may be in any approved subject.

Documentation and audit

Proof submitted at renewalNo, attestation only
Keep records for5 years
Board audits complianceNot stated
Approved providersThere is no continuing education requirement and therefore no approved provider rule. What the APRN must do instead, under ARM 24.159.1469, is submit verification of national recertification to the board within 30 days of issuance, which is tied to the certification date rather than to the renewal date, and maintain an individualized quality assurance plan. Documentation of competence development activities should be retained by the APRN for a minimum of five years and must be made available to the board upon request. The board publishes its list of APRN national certifying bodies on the APRN license information page. No random continuing education audit program is described in the current rules, so audited is left null rather than asserted; the on request production duty in ARM 24.159.1469 is recorded here instead.

Common questions

How many CE hours does a Montana CNM need to renew?
Montana does not require continuing education for CNM license renewal, which happens every two years. Montana requires no continuing education contact hours to renew a nurse midwife license, and none to renew the registered nurse license underneath it, so the layering question does not arise. The Board of Nursing adopted its proposal to repeal the continuing education requirements that were part of the renewal process effective November 18, 2023, and states plainly that licensed practical nurses, registered nurses and APRNs are no longer required to maintain 24 contact hours of continuing education as part of the license renewal process. The rule side matches the announcement: subchapter 24.159.21, titled Renewals and Continuing Education, now contains no effective rules at all. The board's continuing education page repeats that it no longer requires contact hours for renewal and offers free contact hours as a voluntary service, through online modules on the board's role, delegation, the complaint process, the Nurse Licensure Compact, the licensing process, substance use disorder, scope of practice and ethics, approved by the Montana Nurses Association with contact hour approval expiring October 31, 2026. What replaced the hour count is an unquantified competence duty. ARM 24.159.1469, amended effective the same November 18, 2023, states that the APRN is expected to engage in ongoing competence development through formal education, continuing education or clinical practice throughout the APRN's career, and requires the APRN to submit verification of national recertification to the board within 30 days of issuance and to maintain an individualized quality assurance plan relevant to the APRN's role and population focus, practice setting and level of experience, which may include peer review, institutional review or self-assessment, includes methods for maintaining continued competence and evaluating patient outcomes, and meets the standards set by the APRN's national professional organization. For a certified nurse midwife the national certification is from the American Midwifery Certification Board, and its Certificate Maintenance Program totals are not adopted as state hours. National recertification is therefore a condition of holding the license, not a substitute for hours that do not exist.
How often does a Montana CNM license need to be renewed?
Certified Nurse-Midwife licenses in Montana renew every two years. Montana issues a separate APRN license in addition to the registered nurse license. ARM 24.159.1412(5) states that when the board approves a licensed registered nurse's application for APRN licensure, the nurse is issued an APRN license in addition to the current registered nurse license, and the board lists Certified Nurse Midwife as one of the four APRN license types alongside certified nurse practitioner, certified registered nurse anesthetist and clinical nurse specialist. The board states that APRN renewal occurs every other year: an odd licensee must renew by December 31 of odd numbered years and an even licensee by December 31 of even numbered years, with additional fees for applications postmarked or submitted online after that date. The renewal fee is $50 per APRN certification type, and adding a further APRN certification to an existing Montana APRN license costs $75. Prescriptive authority, where the nurse midwife holds it, runs on the same clock: ARM 24.159.1468(1) states that the term of an APRN's prescriptive authority is concurrent with licensure and ends every two years on the date set by ARM 24.101.413, and prescriptive authority not renewed by that date lapses and expires after 45 days, after which the APRN may not prescribe and must reapply.
Do Montana nurse-midwives have to submit CE certificates at renewal?
Licensees attest to completion at renewal rather than submitting certificates and records must be kept for 5 years. There is no continuing education requirement and therefore no approved provider rule. What the APRN must do instead, under ARM 24.159.1469, is submit verification of national recertification to the board within 30 days of issuance, which is tied to the certification date rather than to the renewal date, and maintain an individualized quality assurance plan. Documentation of competence development activities should be retained by the APRN for a minimum of five years and must be made available to the board upon request. The board publishes its list of APRN national certifying bodies on the APRN license information page. No random continuing education audit program is described in the current rules, so audited is left null rather than asserted; the on request production duty in ARM 24.159.1469 is recorded here instead.

Sources

Last verified September 10, 2026. Every value above was read from one of these.

Montana follows the common pattern in the strong form: the Board of Nursing, sitting in the Department of Labor and Industry's Business Standards Division, issues a separate APRN license on top of the registered nurse license, with no board of midwifery and no medical board role. That the rules read govern the nurse midwife and not another kind of midwife was established from the rule text: ARM 24.159.1475 defines Certified Nurse Midwifery practice as the management of care of women throughout the lifespan by a CNM certified in the women's and gender related health population focus, and ARM 24.159.1412 requires the applicant to hold a current Montana registered nurse license, an accredited graduate level APRN transcript and current national certification in the APRN role and population focus. Montana separately regulates midwives who are not nurses: the Department of Labor and Industry lists Alternative Health Care as its own board, which is where licensed direct entry midwives sit, and nothing from it was used here. AMCB certification is a renewal condition and cannot be a substitute for hours, because Montana has no hours to substitute for. The headline finding is the repeal. The board adopted the repeal of its continuing education requirements effective November 18, 2023, and the board homepage, the continuing education page and the rules themselves all agree: subchapter 24.159.21, Renewals and Continuing Education, has no effective rules left. That means a published figure of 24 contact hours per two year cycle, or of 12 pharmacology hours for prescribers, is now stale wherever it appears, including in third party continuing education vendor summaries that still carry it. Nothing in the current APRN subchapter sets any hour count for a nurse midwife, including the prescriptive authority renewal rule, which was amended in the same November 2023 action and now requires only a completed application and fee. Mandatory topics is empty for the same reason: with the continuing education subchapter repealed there is no subject mandate to scope. The rules.mt.gov URLs are opaque identifiers rather than readable rule numbers because the Administrative Rules of Montana site is a JavaScript application; the pages were read as rendered HTML in a browser and each one names the rule number it contains. The board's own continuing education change FAQ and the MAR 24-159-93 notice of amendment and repeal are published only as PDFs, which the no download rule excludes, so they were not read; those URLs are listed in the report. The substance of the repeal did not depend on them, since the board states it in plain text on two of its own pages and the rule subchapter is visibly empty.

Provided for general reference. Requirements change through legislative sessions and rulemaking, so confirm with the Montana Board of Nursing (Department of Labor and Industry, Business Standards Division) before relying on them for a renewal. Spot something out of date? Tell us and we will fix it.