Oklahoma's Medical Treatment Laws CME for Inpatient Providers

Oklahoma requires certain physicians associated with inpatient facilities to complete an online presentation about medical treatment laws. If you hold hospital or nursing-facility privileges, or you simply treat patients at one of those facilities (the emergency room counts), Oklahoma law quietly obligates you to complete a short board-provided online course — the “Oklahoma Health Care Providers' Responsibilities and Rights Under Certain Medical Treatment Laws” presentation — at least once every two calendar years. It applies to both MDs and DOs, it is not a generic inpatient-care course, and the hour it takes counts inside your existing CME total rather than on top of it. Here is exactly who it reaches, how often, and where the credit lands.

What the law actually requires

The requirement lives in Oklahoma's Medical Treatment Laws Information Act, at 63 O.S. §§ 3161–3162 (added by Laws 2014, c. 82, effective November 1, 2014). Section 3162(A) directs the Oklahoma State Board of Medical Licensure and Supervision (OSBMLS) to build and maintain an online presentation — “a minimum of one (1) hour in length” — that trains providers on their responsibilities and rights, with a way to verify that a viewer watched the whole thing and a dated certificate issued on completion. The online-presentation requirement began in calendar year 2015 under section 3162(D).

That online presentation is the board's course, “Oklahoma Health Care Providers' Responsibilities and Rights Under Certain Medical Treatment Laws,” hosted on the medical board's CME portal. Section 3162(A) requires the board's online presentation to last at least one hour and provide a dated completion certificate after verification. The cadence is set by section 3162(C): providers associated with an inpatient facility must observe the presentation “at least once during each consecutive two-calendar-year period” — so 2025–2026, then 2027–2028, and so on.

Who this quietly applies to — and who it doesn't

This is where the requirement catches people off guard: it is not a blanket rule for every Oklahoma licensee. It is triggered by your relationship to an inpatient health care services entity. Under section 3161, a provider is “associated with” such an entity if they are an employee or agent of it, hold privileges to provide care to its patients, or in fact provide health care services to patients there. The statute is explicit that treating patients “in an emergency room operated by the entity” counts — “regardless of whether those patients are admitted as inpatients.”

An “inpatient health care services entity” is defined in the same section as a hospital, a nursing facility, a specialized facility, or certain long-term-care facilities. An outpatient-only physician is outside this requirement only if they are not an employee or agent of a covered entity, hold no privileges there, and provide no health care services to its patients, including in its emergency room. But if you round on inpatients, cover an ER, or carry admitting privileges — even part-time — you are squarely within it. (The statute's defined term “health care provider” is broader than physicians and also reaches PAs, APRNs, and nurses but expressly excludes nurse midwives; for MDs and DOs the trigger is the same.)

Two myths worth correcting

Myth 1: “It's a general inpatient-care course.” It isn't. The presentation is about a provider's rights and responsibilities under five specific Oklahoma laws: the Hydration and Nutrition for Incompetent Patients Act, the Nondiscrimination in Treatment Act, the Oklahoma Advance Directive Act, the Oklahoma Do-Not-Resuscitate Act, and the Assisted Suicide Prevention Act. It is an end-of-life and medical-treatment-law briefing, not a clinical inpatient-safety module.

Myth 2: “It's MD-only.” Also wrong — and this is the more consequential one. When the law was written it ran through the medical board, but it was extended to osteopathic physicians in 2016. Section 3162(E) states that subsections B and C “shall apply to licensees of the State Board of Osteopathic Examiners and such licensees shall receive appropriate continuing education credits” (added by Laws 2016, c. 111, emergency effective April 20, 2016). The osteopathic board's own rules confirm it: OAC 510:10-3-8(b)(4) provides that “CME required for inpatient health care service entity providers under 63 O.S. Section 3162 shall receive CME credit from the Board for completing the same.” So DOs are covered, and the same 1-hour course earns them credit toward their AOA total.

One more distinction that trips people up: this two-year online-presentation requirement is separate from the annual brochure sign-off in section 3162(B), where facilities have providers certify in writing each year that they have read the current brochure. The brochure acknowledgment is yearly; the CME-bearing online course is every two calendar years.

Where the hour counts

The best news about this requirement is that it does not enlarge your workload. Section 3162(C) is explicit: “The time required for observation of this presentation shall count as part of, rather than being in addition to, continuing education otherwise required for licensed health care providers.” In practice:

• MDs renew annually with the OSBMLS; under OAC 435:10-15-1 they certify every three years that they completed 60 hours of board-recognized Category I CME during the preceding three years, and newly licensed physicians begin reporting three years after licensure. The Medical Treatment Laws hour counts toward that total.
• DOs renew annually with the Oklahoma State Board of Osteopathic Examiners (OSBOE) by June 30 and generally complete 16 AOA Category 1 CME hours during July 1–June 30. Physicians obtaining or maintaining ABMS certification may substitute 16 AMA PRA Category 1 credits. The Medical Treatment Laws course receives Board credit under OAC 510:10-3-8(b)(4).

What to do now

1. Check whether the rule reaches you. If you are employed by, hold privileges at, or treat patients (including in the ER) at an Oklahoma hospital, nursing facility, specialized facility, or covered long-term-care facility, you are in scope.
2. Take the course this two-year window. Complete the “Oklahoma Health Care Providers' Responsibilities and Rights Under Certain Medical Treatment Laws” presentation on the medical board's CME portal, pass the short verification, and save the dated certificate. Do it at least once every consecutive two-calendar-year period.
3. Keep the certificate. Facilities must retain certificate copies for at least four calendar years following the calendar year to which they apply; these records are subject to inspection. Give your facility a copy and keep your own.
4. Track it in Med Ed Tracker. Med Ed Tracker lists Oklahoma's Medical Treatment Laws requirement alongside your other CME requirements. Check your completion certificate against the applicable two-calendar-year period when reviewing your record.
5. Verify with your board. Rules and specifics can change, so confirm the current requirement with the OSBMLS (MDs) or the OSBOE (DOs) before you rely on it.

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