New Mexico Pharmacist license renewal and CE requirements

Summary

New Mexico pharmacists must complete 3 CEUs, which is 30 contact hours, every two years to renew their license with the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy (Regulation and Licensing Department). A pharmacist license runs two years and expires at the end of the licensee's birth month. The rules define a pharmacist's year as beginning with the birth month, and define the renewal period for continuing education as the 24 months between the last day of the birth month and the last day of the birth month two years later. An initial license is valid for no less than 24 months and expires on the last day of the birth month immediately following that period. New Mexico also mandates specific subjects. Patient safety as applicable to the practice of pharmacy: 0.2 CEUs every renewal cycle. Pharmacy law offered by the New Mexico board of pharmacy: 0.2 CEUs every renewal cycle. Safe and appropriate use of opioids: 0.2 CEUs every renewal cycle. Pharmacist clinician continuing education for biennial registration renewal: 2 CEUs every renewal cycle (registered pharmacist clinicians). Responsible opioid prescribing practices: 0.2 CEUs every renewal cycle (pharmacist clinicians with a controlled substance registration to prescribe schedule II or schedule III drugs). The first renewal is exempt.

New Mexico Pharmacist 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.

New Mexico states the requirement in CEUs and gives the contact hour equivalent in the same sentence: 16.19.4.10(B) NMAC requires 3.0 CEU (30 contact hours) every two years. Every figure in this record is in CEUs to match the rule, so the live minimum of 1.0 CEU is 10 contact hours and each 0.2 CEU topic minimum is two contact hours. The live minimum excludes the law requirement and must be an ACPE or ACCME approved live program. Pharmacists granted New Mexico initial licensure are exempt from continuing pharmacy education for that first period. An inactive licensee returning to active status owes 1.5 CEU for each year inactive. The rule sets no carryover provision and no cap on home study, so those fields are null. These are pharmacist figures; pharmacy technicians are regulated in a different part of title 16 chapter 19 and their numbers were not used.

Required CE topics for New Mexico pharmacists

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 New Mexico RPh/PharmD need to renew?

New Mexico pharmacists must complete 3 CEUs, which is 30 contact hours, every two years to renew their license with the New Mexico Board of Pharmacy (Regulation and Licensing Department). New Mexico states the requirement in CEUs and gives the contact hour equivalent in the same sentence: 16.19.4.10(B) NMAC requires 3.0 CEU (30 contact hours) every two years. Every figure in this record is in CEUs to match the rule, so the live minimum of 1.0 CEU is 10 contact hours and each 0.2 CEU topic minimum is two contact hours. The live minimum excludes the law requirement and must be an ACPE or ACCME approved live program. Pharmacists granted New Mexico initial licensure are exempt from continuing pharmacy education for that first period. An inactive licensee returning to active status owes 1.5 CEU for each year inactive. The rule sets no carryover provision and no cap on home study, so those fields are null. These are pharmacist figures; pharmacy technicians are regulated in a different part of title 16 chapter 19 and their numbers were not used.

How often does a New Mexico RPh/PharmD license need to be renewed?

Pharmacist licenses in New Mexico renew every two years. A pharmacist license runs two years and expires at the end of the licensee's birth month. The rules define a pharmacist's year as beginning with the birth month, and define the renewal period for continuing education as the 24 months between the last day of the birth month and the last day of the birth month two years later. An initial license is valid for no less than 24 months and expires on the last day of the birth month immediately following that period.

What specific CE topics are required for New Mexico pharmacists?

Patient safety as applicable to the practice of pharmacy: 0.2 CEUs every renewal cycle. Pharmacy law offered by the New Mexico board of pharmacy: 0.2 CEUs every renewal cycle. Safe and appropriate use of opioids: 0.2 CEUs every renewal cycle. Pharmacist clinician continuing education for biennial registration renewal: 2 CEUs every renewal cycle (registered pharmacist clinicians). Responsible opioid prescribing practices: 0.2 CEUs every renewal cycle (pharmacist clinicians with a controlled substance registration to prescribe schedule II or schedule III drugs). Citations: patient safety as applicable to the practice of pharmacy (16.19.4.10(B)(2) NMAC), pharmacy law offered by the New Mexico board of pharmacy (16.19.4.10(B)(3) and 16.19.4.10(J) NMAC), safe and appropriate use of opioids (16.19.4.10(B)(4) NMAC), pharmacist clinician continuing education for biennial registration renewal (16.19.4.17(C)(2)(a) NMAC), and responsible opioid prescribing practices (16.19.4.17(C)(2)(b) NMAC).

Do New Mexico pharmacists have to submit CE certificates at renewal?

The board audits a sample of renewals and asks for documentation. Approved continuing pharmacy education is limited to programs offered by an ACPE accredited provider, programs or courses approved by the board or by other state boards of pharmacy, and pharmacy law programs offered by the board. Credit earned outside New Mexico is accepted if the provider was ACPE approved when the program was offered. Not less than ten percent of registrants are randomly selected each year for audit of certificates by the state drug inspectors, and a pharmacist without sufficient documentation faces a fine of not less than one thousand dollars and must make up the deficient hours. The board's continuing education page notes that its own law update program has no ACPE number and is not reported to CPE Monitor, so attendees register separately to get a certificate.

Is the first New Mexico RPh/PharmD renewal exempt from CE?

Yes. New Mexico does not require continuing education for a RPh/PharmD's first renewal.

Sources

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

• 16.19.4 NMAC, Pharmacist, New Mexico Administrative Code (State Records Center and Archives)Statute or administrative rule, accessed September 10, 2026
• Pharmacy Continuing Education Requirements, New Mexico Regulation and Licensing DepartmentState board page, accessed September 10, 2026

The 3.0 CEU (30 contact hours) biennial total, the 1.0 CEU live minimum, the 0.2 CEU patient safety, pharmacy law and opioid minimums, the initial licensure exemption, the ten percent annual audit and the approved provider definition are all read from 16.19.4.10 NMAC on the state's own administrative code host, last amended May 7, 2024. The board's continuing education page states the same 30 hours, 10 live hours, two patient safety hours, two law hours and two opioid hours. The birth month renewal clock comes from the definitions in 16.19.4.7 NMAC, subsections A, N and AA. The pharmacist clinician figures in 16.19.4.17 NMAC are an add on to a separate registration and are scoped with applies_to rather than folded into the base total. 16.19.4 NMAC does not state a record retention period for continuing education certificates and does not say whether certificates are filed with the renewal application, so those documentation fields are null. No human trafficking, implicit bias or cultural competency mandate for pharmacists appears in this part.