Virginia Physician Assistant license renewal and CE requirements

Summary

Virginia physician assistants must complete continuing education to renew every two years, but the Virginia Board of Medicine (Department of Health Professions) does not publish a fixed hour count. A physician assistant renews the license every two years, in each odd numbered year, during the licensee's birth month. Renewal is a renewal form plus the prescribed fee, together with verification of compliance with the continuing medical education standards established by the NCCPA. A licensee who wants to resume practice within two years of a lapse may renew with a late fee; after two years, reinstatement is required.

Virginia Physician 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.

Virginia no longer sets a number of its own. Under 18VAC85-50-56 as amended, renewal requires submitting the renewal form and fee and verifying compliance with continuing medical education standards established by the NCCPA, and the section adds that no physician assistant who allows an NCCPA certification to lapse shall be considered licensed by the board. There is no state hour count, no state Type 1 or Category 1 split and no state mandated subject in the section, which is why hours_per_cycle is null rather than a number: the obligation is whatever the NCCPA requires to keep certification current. Older summaries describing 50 hours per biennium with at least 25 Type 1 reflect the version of the rule before the 2025 amendment and should not be relied on. Because NCCPA certification is the license condition rather than an alternative to state hours, letting it lapse is not a continuing education shortfall, it ends the license.

Required CE topics for Virginia physician assistants

The Virginia Board of Medicine (Department of Health Professions) 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

Common questions

How many CE hours does a Virginia PA need to renew?

Virginia physician assistants must complete continuing education to renew every two years, but the Virginia Board of Medicine (Department of Health Professions) does not publish a fixed hour count. Virginia no longer sets a number of its own. Under 18VAC85-50-56 as amended, renewal requires submitting the renewal form and fee and verifying compliance with continuing medical education standards established by the NCCPA, and the section adds that no physician assistant who allows an NCCPA certification to lapse shall be considered licensed by the board. There is no state hour count, no state Type 1 or Category 1 split and no state mandated subject in the section, which is why hours_per_cycle is null rather than a number: the obligation is whatever the NCCPA requires to keep certification current. Older summaries describing 50 hours per biennium with at least 25 Type 1 reflect the version of the rule before the 2025 amendment and should not be relied on. Because NCCPA certification is the license condition rather than an alternative to state hours, letting it lapse is not a continuing education shortfall, it ends the license.

How often does a Virginia PA license need to be renewed?

Physician Assistant licenses in Virginia renew every two years. A physician assistant renews the license every two years, in each odd numbered year, during the licensee's birth month. Renewal is a renewal form plus the prescribed fee, together with verification of compliance with the continuing medical education standards established by the NCCPA. A licensee who wants to resume practice within two years of a lapse may renew with a late fee; after two years, reinstatement is required.

Does Virginia require specific CE topics for physician assistants?

The Virginia Board of Medicine (Department of Health Professions) does not list mandated subject areas for PA renewal on the pages we verified; the CME credits may be in any approved subject.

Do Virginia physician assistants have to submit CE certificates at renewal?

Licensees attest to completion at renewal rather than submitting certificates. The continuing medical education standards are those established by the NCCPA. The board does not name its own approved providers in the renewal section.

Sources

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

• 18VAC85-50-56, Renewal of license (physician assistants), amendments effective July 17, 2025 and April 9, 2026Statute or administrative rule, accessed September 8, 2026
• 18VAC85-50-55, Provisional licensure (physician assistants)Statute or administrative rule, accessed September 8, 2026
• Virginia Board of Medicine, Department of Health ProfessionsState board page, accessed September 8, 2026

Virginia regulates physician assistants through the Board of Medicine, not a separate physician assistant board, and their rules sit in 18VAC85-50 rather than in the physician chapter 18VAC85-20. That separation matters here: the two credits of pain management, proper prescribing of controlled substances, and diagnosis and management of addiction that Virginia imposes on physicians live in 18VAC85-20-235 and were not found in the physician assistant chapter, so no mandatory topic is recorded for physician assistants. The relationship to the physician requirement is therefore not layered and not identical: physicians owe a state hour count, physician assistants owe whatever the NCCPA requires. The rule was recently rewritten, with amendments effective July 17, 2025 and April 9, 2026, which is why third party pages still describing 50 hours per biennium with 25 Type 1 hours are out of date. The board's own continuing education page for physician assistants at dhp.virginia.gov returned a 404, so the Virginia Administrative Code text on law.lis.virginia.gov is the substantive source. hours_per_cycle is deliberately null: setting it to the NCCPA's own credit total would be recording a value the state does not state.