3 CME Changes Coming for Texas Physicians

If you hold a Texas medical license, several continuing medical education (CME) changes are heading your way across 2026 and 2027 — almost all of them passed by the 89th Texas Legislature in 2025. The most important one to understand is a change to how you report your CME, not how much you need. Here are the three to have on your radar.

The short version

• Sept. 1, 2026: CME reporting moves into CE Broker, and the Texas Medical Board (TMB) must be able to verify your credits there before you can renew (SB 912).
• Sept. 1, 2026: Physicians who treat patients in an emergency-room setting add 2 hours of forensic-evidence-collection CME per cycle (HB 47).
• Expected 2027: A new nutrition and metabolic-health CME requirement (SB 25), with the exact hours still to be set by TMB rulemaking.

1. Mandatory CME reporting through CE Broker (SB 912)

This is the change that will touch every Texas physician. Under Senate Bill 912 (2025), the TMB must verify that a licensee has met their continuing education requirements through an electronic tracking system before renewal. The board uses CE Broker for that verification, and mandatory tracking for all TMB licensees begins September 1, 2026.

In practical terms: if you renew on or after that date, you will need an active CE Broker account with all of your completed CME reported in it. If the TMB cannot verify your compliance through CE Broker, you will not be able to renew. Note what this is — and is not: it is a reporting and process change, not a change to the number of hours you owe. A free basic CE Broker account is available to all TMB licensees.

2. Forensic-evidence-collection CME for ER physicians (HB 47)

House Bill 47 (2025) adds a targeted requirement. Physicians (and physician assistants) renewing on or after September 1, 2026, whose practice includes treating patients in an emergency-room setting, must complete 2 hours of CME relating to forensic evidence collection. The material covers forensic evidence collection guidelines for emergency departments treating sexual-assault survivors, and the courses may be formal or informal, as determined by the course provider.

If you do not treat patients in an emergency-room setting, you are not required to take it. In that case you can submit an attestation in CE Broker stating that you are not working in an ER setting, which removes the requirement from your CME list.

3. Nutrition and metabolic-health CME (SB 25)

Senate Bill 25 (2025) makes Texas the first state to require nutrition education for physicians at renewal. A physician applying for license renewal will need to complete CME regarding nutrition and metabolic health, and the requirement applies to renewal applications filed on or after January 1, 2027.

Here is the part to watch: the specifics are still being written. The TMB is directed to adopt implementing rules by no later than December 31, 2026, and those rules will prescribe both the number of hours and the content (drawing on guidelines from the newly created Texas Nutrition Advisory Committee). The Texas Medical Association has said physicians should expect a biennial requirement, but because the TMB has not yet designated the number of hours, treat the exact figure as to-be-determined until the rules are finalized.

Your base Texas CME hasn't changed

Amid the new rules, the core numbers are steady. Texas physicians must still complete at least 48 hours of CME every 24 months, with at least 24 of those in formal AMA PRA Category 1 (or AOA Category 1-A) credits — including 2 formal hours on medical ethics and/or professional responsibility. None of the three changes above raise or lower those totals: SB 912 changes how you report them, while HB 47 and SB 25 add specific topics for the physicians they apply to.

What to do now

1. Set up CE Broker early. Create your free account before September 1, 2026, and log CME as you complete it rather than scrambling at renewal.
2. Sort out the ER question. If you treat patients in an emergency-room setting, plan for the 2-hour forensic-evidence-collection course. If you don't, be ready to file the ER-exemption attestation in CE Broker.
3. Watch for the nutrition rules. The TMB's SB 25 rules are expected to be finalized by the end of 2026 and to apply to renewals on or after January 1, 2027 — check the hour count once it is published.

We keep renewal cycles and CME details current in our state-by-state guides: