Kansas Physical Therapy CE Requirements (2026): 40 Hours Every 2 Years

Requirements Overview

The Kansas State Board of Healing Arts, under K.A.R. 100-29-9, requires licensed physical therapists to complete 40 contact hours of continuing education every 2 years (PTAs have a separate 20-hour requirement). Licenses renew annually, but CE evidence is only submitted with the odd-numbered-year renewal, covering the prior two-year period.

Since a September 2022 amendment, every licensed PT must also pass the Physical Therapy Jurisprudence Assessment Module (JAM), an online exam built by the Board with FSBPT; the 1 hour earned counts inside the 40-hour total. Kansas names no other mandatory topic, though activities must relate to physical therapy practice.

The Board does not pre-approve courses. Reading professional literature is capped at 2 contact hours per cycle, and carry-over is not permitted — hours above the 40-hour minimum are lost once the next cycle starts.

Mandatory Topics

Renewal Pathways

Exemptions

• ✓
  New Licensee First Cycle — A physical therapist initially licensed, certified, or holding a compact privilege within one year of a renewal date in an odd-numbered year is not required to submit evidence of continuing education for that first renewal period.
• ✓
  Military Service — A licensee in military service (active duty in the army national guard, coast guard, or any branch of the military reserves of the United States) is not required to pay a renewal fee, submit a renewal application, obtain continuing education, or meet other conditions to maintain a license while in military service; the license cannot expire, lapse, or be canceled for failure to timely renew during that period. Upon release, the licensee is given a one-year period to fulfill any CE requirement.

  Renewal fee and application must still be submitted within 6 months after release from military service to continue practicing in Kansas.
• ✓
  Hardship Extension — The board may grant an extension of up to six months to submit evidence of continuing education for a substantiated medical condition, natural disaster, death of a spouse or immediate family member, or any other compelling reason the board judges renders the licensee incapable of timely compliance.

  Requires a written request including a plan for completing the CE requirements within the requested extension period; granted at the board's discretion.

How You Can Complete Your CE

Kansas CE Rules & Limits

Details specific to Kansas that generic CE guides tend to miss:

• Physical therapist assistants (PTAs) have a separate, lower requirement: at least 20 contact hours every 2 years (vs. 40 for PTs), and PTAs are NOT subject to the mandatory jurisprudence assessment module. This site's profession scope is Physical Therapist (PT); the PTA figures are noted here for context only.
• Kansas participates in the PT Compact: the regulation extends the same 40-hour (PT) / 20-hour (PTA) CE requirements, including the mandatory JAM for PTs, to individuals practicing in Kansas under a compact privilege rather than a full Kansas license.
• The mandatory jurisprudence assessment module (JAM) requirement for PTs was added by the Sept. 16, 2022 amendment to K.A.R. 100-29-9; it is an online, on-demand, open-book exam developed by the board with FSBPT and administered by FSBPT (see FSBPT's JAM Services page for Kansas). The 1 contact hour earned for passing it counts toward, not in addition to, the 40-hour total.
• Kansas PT licenses are renewed annually for fee/application purposes (K.A.R. 100-29-7), but CE evidence is only required with the odd-numbered-year renewal (covering the preceding two-year period); no CE evidence is required with the even-numbered-year renewal application.
• No numeric cap is stated in the current (Sept. 2022) regulation text for online/internet/correspondence self-instruction courses (K.A.R. 100-29-9(f)(9)(B)); only 'reading professional literature' is explicitly capped, at 2 contact hours. A prior (2016) version of the rule capped correspondence/audio/video/internet coursework at 10 hours per course, and some third-party CE-vendor pages (e.g., PTProgress, referencing 'up to 10 required CEUs through online providers') still describe that older figure; treat that specific 10-hour cap as outdated relative to the current regulation.
• Courses need not be pre-approved by the board itself; the Kansas Physical Therapy Association (APTA's Kansas chapter) maintains a 'CEU Locker' of reviewed courses, but per KPTA's own site, courses do not need to appear on that portal to satisfy the board's requirements, since any activity meeting K.A.R. 100-29-9(d)-(f)'s subject-matter and category rules qualifies.

Provider Requirements

No blanket board pre-approval process for individual courses is described in the regulation; instead, K.A.R. 100-29-9(d)-(f) defines 15 qualifying activity categories (lecture, panel, workshop, seminar, symposium, in-service training, college/university coursework, administrative training, self-instruction, professional publications, residency/fellowship, elected delegate service, student supervision, CE program presentation, and the JAM) and requires all activities to relate to the practice of physical therapy and fall within 8 permissible subject areas. In practice, the Kansas Physical Therapy Association (KPTA), the APTA chapter, reviews and lists approved courses (its 'CEU Locker'), and the board's website confirms it does not require courses to appear on that portal to count.

Tips for Kansas PTs

• Don't skip the JAM — it's a mandatory pass/fail requirement added in 2022, and the 1 hour you earn for passing counts inside your 40-hour total rather than being extra credit.
• New Kansas PT licensees get a free pass on their first odd-year renewal if licensed within a year of that renewal date, but owe half the total (20 hours) if licensed 1-2 years before it — check your license date against the nearest odd-numbered-year renewal before assuming you're exempt.
• Because CE evidence is only required at the odd-year renewal, don't wait until the deadline to check your running total — the reporting period spans the full preceding two years, with no annual minimum forcing you to pace it out.
• If you're relying on reading professional literature for credit, cap it mentally at 2 hours — that's the regulation's explicit ceiling for that category, unlike online/internet courses, which currently carry no stated numeric cap.
• Keep your certificates of completion, self-instruction verification, and any peer-reviewed publication copies on hand; the Board requires documented evidence directly, and courses don't need to appear on KPTA's CEU Locker portal to qualify.

Sources

PT Requirements in Nearby States

Other Professions in Kansas

All Physical Therapy CE Requirements by State

Open any other state's Physical Therapy CE requirements, or see the full Physical Therapy CE hub to compare every state in one table.