(1) Each active licensee must complete 20 hours of continuing education (CE) annually for renewal of a license.

(2) A licensee with an inactive license must complete 20 hours of CE for the immediately prior renewal period before requesting the board to issue an active license.

(3) A licensee is exempt from the CE requirement the year of original licensure.

(4) The board/staff will not pre-approve CE programs or sponsors. It is the responsibility of the licensee to select quality programs that:

(a) contribute to the licensee's knowledge and professional competence;

(b) contain significant intellectual or practical content; and

(c) deal primarily with substantive nursing home management issues.

(5) A CE program means a class, institute, lecture, conference, workshop, audio, video, internet or correspondence course or peer-reviewed publication of a journal article(s) or textbook(s) that meets the requirements of (4). Programs that promote a company, individual, or product are excluded.

(6) The board may grant CE hours to a licensee who attended courses or programs accepted by other state boards or associations of nursing home administrators, if the licensee demonstrates that the activity meets the requirements of (4).

(7) No more than 15 hours of college courses may be submitted for CE credit without prior approval of the board. These courses must comply with the requirements of (4).

(8) One semester credit is equal to 15 CE hours, and 60 minutes of class time is equal to one CE hour.

(9) All acceptable CE courses must issue a program or certificate of completion containing the following information:

(a) full name and qualifications of the presenter;

(b) title of the presentation attended;

(c) number of hours and date of each presentation attended;

(d) name of sponsor; and

(e) description of the presentation format.

(10) Licensees can earn up to a maximum of eight CE hours per year by teaching acceptable university or college courses.

(a) Acceptable courses are based on the following criteria:

(i) courses must be germane to the licensee's profession;

(ii) the licensee must be the instructor of the course; and

(iii) the course must be addressed to health professionals.

(b) The instructor will be awarded two CE hours for a one hour presentation.

(c) Instruction of any course may be submitted for CE credit only once.

(d) Instructors employed by universities and colleges will not receive CE hours in this section for conducting courses that are a part of the regular course offering of the institutions. This applies to courses that are offered in the evening or summer.

(11) The board will conduct random CE audits. Licensees selected for audit shall submit proof of completion of CE courses. Licensees are responsible for maintaining their CE records and making such records available upon board request.