Nevada Osteopathic Physicians: New CME Rules Ahead

If you hold a Nevada osteopathic (DO) license, the way you earn and report continuing medical education (CME) is changing. A 2025 law — Assembly Bill 56 (AB 56) — moves Nevada DOs from an annual license cycle to a two-year (biennial) cycle and revises the CME requirement. The Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine has since finalized the rule that carries it out, raising the headline CME total and doubling the Category 1-A minimum. Here is what is changing — and how to keep the new deadline from sneaking up on you.

This applies to DOs only. Nevada osteopathic physicians are licensed by the Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine. Nevada MDs are licensed by a separate agency — the Nevada State Board of Medical Examiners — and follow their own rules, which this change does not affect.

What is changing

Assembly Bill 56, passed in Nevada's 2025 legislative session, reshapes DO licensing in two big ways:

• Annual becomes biennial. DO license renewal moves from every year to every two years. DOs renew in even-numbered years, and the Board has said a DO renewing at the end of 2026 will be renewing for the 2027–2028 period.
• CME is counted over the two-year cycle. The Board's approved regulation requires each osteopathic physician to “complete at least 40 hours of continuing education each biennium rather than at least 35 hours of continuing education each year.”

AB 56 also doubled the maximum fees the Board may charge to issue and renew a DO license, in line with the longer cycle. The implementing rule (Nevada LCB File No. R092-25) was filed as an approved regulation on July 1, 2026.

The outgoing requirement (through the 2026 cycle)

Under the rule in effect through December 31, 2026, a DO renewing a license attests to completing, during the preceding year, at least:

• 35 hours of Board-approved continuing education, including
• 10 hours of Category 1-A courses, and
• 2 hours on the misuse and abuse of controlled substances, the prescribing of opioids, or addiction.

A “Category 1-A course” is CME from a sponsor accredited by the American Osteopathic Association (AOA) or the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME).

The new requirement (renewals after December 31, 2026)

Under the amended rule, a DO renewing a license after December 31, 2026 attests to completing, during the preceding biennium, at least:

• 40 hours of Board-approved continuing education, including
• 20 hours of Category 1-A courses (up from 10), and
• 4 hours on the misuse and abuse of controlled substances, the prescribing of opioids, or addiction (up from 2).

The separate evidence-based suicide prevention and awareness training (generally once within two years of initial licensure, then at least every four years) is unchanged.

Wait — is “35 to 40” really an increase?

The top-line number does go up, but it now covers two years instead of one, so it is spread over twice as much time. The Board frames the change as “40 hours…each biennium rather than at least 35 hours…each year.” Some third-party summaries instead describe it as “40 hours per year,” which does not match the Board's rule — so confirm the exact hours, categories, and cycle with the Board rather than relying on a single summary.

What Nevada DOs should do now

1. Confirm your renewal timing. DO renewals fall on December 31 and now land in even-numbered years, with the first two-year renewal at the end of 2026 for the 2027–2028 period.
2. Front-load Category 1-A credit. With the Category 1-A minimum at 20 hours over two years, make sure enough of your CME is AOA- or ACCME-accredited, and keep your certificates.
3. Verify with the Board. Transition timing can be nuanced, so confirm the hours, categories, and your specific deadline with the Nevada State Board of Osteopathic Medicine before you renew.

We keep the renewal cycle and CME details for both license types current in our state-by-state guides: