Pharmacy CE Has Its Own Ecosystem

If you’re a pharmacist or pharmacy technician, your CE world works a bit differently from most other healthcare professions. You’ve got ACPE (Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education) setting national standards, CPE Monitor tracking your credits electronically, and then your state board layering its own requirements on top.

It’s a system that’s more centralized than what nurses or therapists deal with — which is both good and bad. Good because there’s a national tracking infrastructure. Bad because the interaction between national tracking and state-specific rules creates its own set of headaches.

The ACPE Foundation

ACPE is the national accrediting body for pharmacy continuing education. Almost every state board requires that your CE come from ACPE-accredited providers. This is actually simpler than what a lot of other professions deal with — instead of juggling multiple accrediting bodies, pharmacists mostly need to verify one thing: is this ACPE-accredited?

ACPE-accredited activities fall into two main categories:

Knowledge-based activities: Traditional CE — lectures, online courses, journal articles with assessments. These make up the bulk of what most pharmacists complete.

Application-based activities: More hands-on learning that requires demonstrating the application of knowledge. These are less common but increasingly emphasized by boards that want CE to go beyond passive learning.

Each ACPE activity gets a Universal Activity Number (UAN) — a standardized identifier that makes tracking and verification straightforward. When you see a long string like “0204-0000-25-001-H01-P,” that’s the UAN, and it encodes the provider, activity number, year, and target audience.

CPE Monitor: Your National Transcript

CPE Monitor is the joint effort between ACPE and NABP (National Association of Boards of Pharmacy) that electronically tracks CE completion for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians across the country.

Here’s how it works:

• You create a CPE Monitor e-Profile through NABP (if you haven’t already — most pharmacists set this up in school)
• When you complete an ACPE-accredited activity, the provider reports your completion directly to CPE Monitor
• Your CPE Monitor transcript builds automatically over time
• Many state boards pull directly from CPE Monitor when verifying your CE at renewal

The 60-Day Rule

This trips people up regularly: ACPE-accredited providers are supposed to report your completion to CPE Monitor within 60 days. But “supposed to” and “actually do” aren’t always the same thing.

If you complete a course and it doesn’t show up on your CPE Monitor transcript, you need to follow up with the provider. Don’t assume it’ll get reported eventually. Check your transcript periodically — especially in the months leading up to renewal.

When CPE Monitor Doesn’t Cover Everything

CPE Monitor only tracks ACPE-accredited activities. If your state accepts (or requires) CE from non-ACPE sources — and some do — those hours won’t appear on your CPE Monitor transcript. You’ll need to track and document those separately.

This is where people get into trouble. They assume their CPE Monitor transcript is the complete picture, but it might be missing state-specific requirements fulfilled through non-ACPE providers.

State Requirements: Where It Gets Complicated

Despite the national infrastructure, each state still sets its own rules. Here’s where they tend to diverge:

Total Hours

Most states require 30 CE hours per two-year cycle for pharmacists, but the range spans from 20 to 40+. Pharmacy technicians usually have lower requirements — often 10-20 hours per cycle.

Mandatory Topics

The list of state-mandated topics for pharmacists has grown steadily:

Immunization training: Required in many states, particularly for pharmacists who administer vaccines. Some states want initial certification plus periodic updates.

Opioid and controlled substance education: This has been growing fast. Some states specify exact hours (2-3 per cycle) focused on pain management, addiction recognition, or prescription monitoring programs.

Patient safety: You’ll see this in some states — hours on medication errors, adverse event reporting, or patient safety systems.

Law and regulation updates: Some states require 1-3 hours per cycle on pharmacy law, either state-specific or federal.

Sterile and non-sterile compounding: If you’re involved in compounding, check whether your state requires specific CE on USP standards and compounding practices.

MTM (Medication Therapy Management): Less common, but some states require CE in MTM or comprehensive medication reviews.

Live CE Requirements

Some states still require a portion of your CE to be completed through live (synchronous) activities — either in-person or live webinar. The percentage varies, but it’s usually in the range of 25-50% of your total requirement.

This is one area where pharmacy CE rules can be stricter than other professions. If your state has a live requirement, plan for it early. Live courses fill up, and you don’t want to be hunting for an available live CE event in the final weeks before renewal.

Pharmacist vs. Pharmacy Technician Requirements

If you hold both a pharmacist license and oversee pharmacy technicians, it’s worth understanding how the requirements differ:

• Hour totals are typically lower for technicians (10-20 hours vs. 30-40 for pharmacists)
• Topic mandates may be different — technicians might have requirements around medication safety or pharmacy law that differ from pharmacist mandates
• Provider requirements are usually the same (ACPE-accredited), but some states have additional approved providers for technician CE
• CPE Monitor tracks both pharmacist and technician CE, but the activity types are coded differently (the “P” or “T” at the end of the UAN indicates the target audience)

Common Pharmacy CE Mistakes

Relying Solely on CPE Monitor

Your CPE Monitor transcript is a great resource, but it’s not foolproof. Activities sometimes don’t get reported. Non-ACPE activities aren’t included. And if there’s a discrepancy between your transcript and your board’s records, you’re the one who has to sort it out.

Keep your own records too. Save completion certificates even for activities that should appear on CPE Monitor.

Ignoring Activity Type Codes

ACPE activities are coded by topic and type. If your state requires specific topic areas, you need to pay attention to these codes when selecting courses. Taking 30 hours of general pharmacotherapy won’t help if 3 of those hours need to be in pharmacy law and you didn’t take any.

Letting Live Requirements Slide

If your state mandates live CE, don’t leave it for the end of your cycle. Live courses have limited availability and fixed schedules. Plan these first and fill in with self-paced activities around them.

Mixing Up Pharmacist and Technician Activities

ACPE activities are designated for pharmacists (P), technicians (T), or both. A pharmacist taking a technician-designated course may not get credit, and vice versa. Check the designation before you start.

Building a Tracking System

Given the split between CPE Monitor and state-specific requirements, pharmacists need a system that accounts for both:

1. Start with your state’s requirements. List the total hours, mandatory topics, live requirements, and any other specifics.
2. Map your CPE Monitor transcript against those requirements. Where does it cover you, and where are the gaps?
3. Track non-ACPE activities separately if your state accepts them. Keep certificates and documentation organized.
4. Check CPE Monitor quarterly. Don’t wait until renewal to discover that a completed activity wasn’t reported.
5. Use a CE tracking app that lets you monitor progress against your specific state requirements, not just total hours.

Course Counter lets you set up your pharmacy license with your state’s specific requirements and track your progress against all of them — mandatory topics, live hours, and total hours — in one place.

Staying Ahead of Changes

Pharmacy CE requirements have been shifting, particularly around immunization authority, controlled substances, and compounding standards. State boards adopt new mandates regularly, and they don’t always give a long lead time.

Keep an eye on:

• Your state board of pharmacy website and newsletter
• NABP updates (they track regulatory changes across all states)
• Your state pharmacy association communications
• ACPE announcements about changes to accreditation standards

The pharmacy CE system is more structured than most professions, and that structure works in your favor. But it doesn’t mean you can ignore your state’s specific rules or skip keeping your own records. The national infrastructure handles a lot — just not everything.