Louisiana APRN CE Package – 12 Pharmacotherapeutics Hours + Nutrition

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This ANCC-accredited package covers the Louisiana State Board of Nursing (LSBN) pharmacotherapeutics requirement for APRNs with prescriptive authority, plus one hour of nutrition and metabolic health education addressing Act 463 (SB 14, 2025).

LSBN rule 4513.D.5 requires six contact hours of pharmacotherapeutics each year, in your advanced nursing role and population foci. Because Louisiana licenses renew every two years, LSBN instructs APRNs selected for the audit to produce twelve contact hours of pharmacotherapeutics completed during the two-year licensure period.

Renew Now CE is accredited as a provider of nursing continuing professional development by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation. ANCC Accredited Provider #P0557.

Louisiana APRN Renewal Windows

Because CE must be complete at the time you apply, the practical deadline is the day you renew, not December 31.

Six Hours a Year, or Twelve Across the Cycle? Read the Two Rules Together

The rule is written annually. LAC 46:XLVII.4513.D.5 states that each year an APRN with prescriptive authority shall obtain six contact hours of continuing education in pharmacotherapeutics.

LSBN's audit instructions are written against the licensure period. APRNs selected for the audit are asked to submit certificates showing twelve contact hours of pharmacotherapeutics completed during the two-year licensure period, and every certificate must carry the date the hours were awarded and fall inside that period.

We recommend completing one six-hour course in each year of your renewal cycle. That satisfies the annual rule and the audit instruction at the same time, with no judgment call left to a reviewer. It matters because LSBN determines compliance on your first submission and does not accept resubmissions.

Purchase the package once. Your progress saves automatically, so you can complete the first course now and return next year for the second.

Renewing for the First Time? Read This Before You Buy

Louisiana licenses and prescriptive authority credentials that are initially issued run for the calendar year. Subsequent renewals are biennial. If your first licensure period is shorter than a full two-year cycle, you may owe six pharmacotherapeutics hours rather than twelve. Check your license issue date and expiration date before purchasing a package built for a full cycle.

If that describes you, buy the six-hour course you need on its own rather than this package.

The Separate 3-Hour Controlled Substance Course

This package does not include or satisfy the 3-hour requirement. It is listed here because APRNs are routinely surprised by it at renewal.

Two groups owe it. APRNs requesting the addition of controlled substance prescribing to their prescriptive authority privileges, and APRNs already approved for controlled substance prescribing who have never submitted proof of completion. Under LAC 46:XLVII.4516 it is a one-time prerequisite to licensure renewal. LSBN states that an APRN holding both active prescriptive authority and an active CDS license is not eligible to renew without it, and that the RN license, APRN license, and prescriptive authority credential become inactive.

The course must be board approved and must address drug diversion training, best practices regarding prescribing of controlled substances, and appropriate treatment for addiction. New applicants upload the certificate during the prescriptive authority application. APRNs who already hold the credential submit proof by mail before renewal.

The course must be individually approved by the Board. LSBN publishes a list of preapproved courses and may review courses not on the list, with the licensee supplying the provider's course description and objectives. Allow four to six weeks for that review. Prescriptive authority applications not approved within sixty days of receipt are closed without approval, so an unlisted course can consume most of your application window. Check the current preapproved list on the LSBN continuing education page before you buy anything for this requirement.

Exemption. LAC 46:XLVII.4516.E allows an APRN to be exempt by certifying, in the form and manner the board specifies, that they have not prescribed, administered, or dispensed any controlled substance during the entire period covered by the expiring APRN license. LSBN verifies this through the Louisiana Prescription Monitoring Program. An exempted APRN who later prescribes must satisfy the requirement for the following renewal.

Two details worth knowing. LSBN provides that the three-hour requirement is considered part of, and not in addition to, the prescriber's annual continuing education requirement, so those three hours can count toward the six owed for the year in which they were completed. And credits earned before January 1, 2018 are not accepted.

Included Courses (Total 13 Contact Hours)

Year labels reflect our recommended sequence for meeting the annual rule. They are not an LSBN designation.

About the Nutrition and Metabolic Health Hour

Who it applies to: Act 463 (SB 14, signed June 20, 2025) requires APRNs practicing family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, or gynecology to complete a minimum of one hour of continuing education on nutrition and metabolic health every four years. APRNs practicing outside those areas are not covered by the APRN provision. The longer specialty list in Act 463 applies to physicians and physician assistants, not to APRNs. The continuing education provisions took effect January 1, 2026.

How it counts: Act 463 provides that the required hour shall be included in, and not in addition to, the total number of continuing education hours required by the board at the time the Act was passed. In practice, this course carries 1.0 contact hour and 0.0 pharmacology hours, and an LSBN pharmacotherapeutics audit is satisfied only by certificates that clearly indicate hours awarded for pharmacotherapeutics content. Taking this hour as a thirteenth hour keeps your twelve pharmacotherapeutics hours intact for that audit.

Rulemaking status: Act 463 directs LSBN to adopt rules determining the content of this training, and no such rulemaking appears in LSBN's published rules log as of the review date below. This course provides one contact hour of evidence-based nutrition and metabolic health education aligned with the subject matter described in the Act. We will update this page when LSBN publishes its content requirements. Confirm your obligation with LSBN before relying on any course for compliance.

Who Should Use This Package:

• Louisiana APRNs with prescriptive authority who need pharmacotherapeutics hours for the current renewal cycle
• Nationally board certified APRNs, whose Louisiana RN license renewal is satisfied by holding an approved certification
• APRNs in family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics, obstetrics, or gynecology who also need the Act 463 nutrition hour
• Prescribers who want certificates that state pharmacotherapeutics hours explicitly for LSBN audit

This Package Is Not For:

Louisiana RNs without prescriptive authority. RN renewal is met by any one of four options during the two-year licensure period: 30 board-approved contact hours of continuing education, 900 practice hours verified by the employer on a board form, initial RN licensure by examination or endorsement during the previous calendar year, or current certification in a nursing specialty recognized by the board. See our 30-Hour Nursing CE Package instead.

APRNs who still owe the 3-hour controlled substance course. That requires a separate board-approved course, described above. LSBN maintains a list of preapproved courses on its continuing education page. This package does not satisfy that requirement.

Commensurate APRNs. APRNs initially licensed under the grandfathering provisions of R.S. 37:912(B)(3) and (4) who are not advanced practice certified follow a different renewal pathway and submit the documentation required in LSBN rule 4507.E.

Why Certificates Matter in Louisiana

Louisiana does not use CE Broker. LSBN runs a mail-in audit, and compliance is determined on what you submit. Documents that are faxed, emailed, or sent through the nurse portal message center are not accepted, and determination is made on your first submission. Resubmissions are not accepted.

LSBN requires six components on an APRN pharmacology certificate:

• Company name of the CE provider
• The APRN's name
• Title of the advanced practice level CE topic completed
• Clear indication of the hours awarded specifically for pharmacotherapeutics or pharmacology content
• The date the contact hours were awarded
• A printed statement that the topic was accredited or recognized for pharmacology continuing education by an agency LSBN accepts

LSBN will not accept a summary report, training transcript, or CE tracking report in place of individual certificates, and courses that present pharmacology content without awarding pharmacology credit on the certificate do not meet the requirement.

Every certificate issued for this package states pharmacotherapeutics hours separately and identifies Renew Now CE as ANCC Accredited Provider P0557. Keep your certificates for five years. Submit them only when LSBN requests them.

Why Choose This Package?

This description summarizes continuing education information for general guidance. Board requirements change. Confirm current requirements with the Louisiana State Board of Nursing before relying on any course for renewal or compliance documentation.

Content last reviewed: September 10, 2026