PTCB Renewal: A Comprehensive Guide [2024 Updated]

To keep your position as a Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) or a Certified Compounded Sterile Preparation Technician (CSPT) current, you must renew your pharmacy technician license. Completing mandatory continuing education (CE) allows pharmacy technicians to keep updated with current pharmacy practice, increase their knowledge, and advance their careers.

In 2019, the PTCB improved the PTCB renewal application procedure, allowing CPhTs to renew in minutes, subject to PTCB approval. Make sure to go over the new procedure thoroughly.

Steps to renew your PTCB license

To keep their certification active, PTCB certification must be recertified. CPhTs are required to maintain their PTCB Certification by many workplaces and/or state boards of pharmacy. Recertification ensures that pharmacy technicians remain current in their profession by requiring them to complete Continuing Education (CE) and/or training, as well as skill and competence examinations. To recertify, CPhTs must have an NABP e-Profile ID on file with PTCB that is displayed in their PTCB Account. Those without an e-Profile ID will not be able to recertify or reactivate their credentials.

Follow the below steps to get your PTCB Renewal:

• Earn CE hours during your renewal cycle. Verify that your NABP e-Profile ID appears in your PTCB Account. If not, enter your NABP e-Profile ID or create an NABP e-Profile at NABP.pharmacy. Check that you have met all CE requirements and they are recorded correctly in CPE Monitor.
• APPLY by logging into your PTCB Account to begin your application. Attest that you’ve completed PTCB’s renewal requirements and that your CE activities are in CPE Monitor. Submit your application and payment. Once your payment is processed, your application will be approved, subject to review.
• PTCB reviews your application and attempts to verify your CE information in CPE Monitor for 60 days. A PTCB returns your application if you do not meet CE requirements. Resubmit your returned application if you believe you met CE requirements. You have 30 days to provide documentation and resubmit.

What is Continuing Pharmacy Education?

A structured educational activity developed or intended to promote the continued development of pharmacists and/or pharmacy technicians to maintain and increase their competence, according to the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE). Continuing pharmacy education (CPE) should enhance problem-solving and critical thinking while also being applicable to safe pharmacy practice.”

Approved activities

Seminars, workshops, and Conferences are all options. Attending seminars, workshops, conferences, or other educational activities that include subject matter from the PTCB Certification Program’s Exam Content Outline can earn you credit. A live, web-based, or recorded presentation, teleconference, virtual meeting, panel discussion, or workshop are examples of these activities.

College Courses. Completing a relevant college course for 3 academic credit hours with a grade of “C” or higher can earn you up to 10 hours. Subject content from the PTCB Certification Program’s Exam Content Outline must be included in relevant courses.

Service to PTCB. Unpaid involvement in specific PTCB events and tasks that are required to keep the Certification Program running might earn you credit. The PTCB Certification Council determines which activities and functions are qualified for CE hours, as well as how many CE hours are issued.

PTCB will no longer accept “in-service” continuing education (CE) hours starting January 1, 2018.

Applying for recertification

Certificants submit their pharmacy technician license renewal applications online using their PTCB account. A paper application is only accessible to people who are unable to use the internet application due to a disability or other difficulty. Paper application requests must be made in writing to PTCB and contain acceptable documentation of the disability or hardship.

Certificants have 60 days after their certification expires to request recertification. When the Recertification Window opens, PTCB will send an email to all certificants. Certificants must submit their application by 11:59 p.m. ET on the first day of the certification expiry month, which is the Application Deadline. Late applications will be charged a $25 late application processing fee if they are submitted after the Application Deadline. PTCB will accept recertification applications until the expiry date, but it cannot ensure that any filed after the deadline will be processed before the expiration date.

All applications are processed in the order in which they are received by PTCB. The verification database will be updated after an application is granted, and certificants will be able to download and print an updated certificate by going into their PTCB account.

Returned applications

Applications that are incomplete, include mistakes, do not fulfill CE requirements, give insufficient CE information (e.g., do not include the whole course and provider name), or are accompanied by an inaccurate payment amount will be returned for adjustment. The certificant will have 30 days to make adjustments and the $10 nonrefundable reprocessing fee to PTCB after receiving notification of a returned renewal application. During this return time, PTCB will not recognize CEs earned outside of the appropriate recertification cycle.

Current PTCB renewal fees

CPhT/CPhT-Adv RENEWAL FEES	CSPT RENEWAL FEES	MISCELLANEOUS
Recertification Application Fee: $49	Recertification Application Fee*: $20	Recertification Late Application Processing Fee**: $25
Reinstatement Fee: $89	Reinstatement Fee: $40	Reprocessing Fee***: $10
		Administrative Fee****: $25
		Optional Certificate Printed on Fine Paper: $15

Pharmacy tech license renewal requirements

To keep their certification, PTCB Certified Pharmacy Technicians (CPhTs) must recertify every two years. The PTCB’s CPhT recertification criteria align with the State Boards of Pharmacy’s biennial professional pharmacy tech license renewal schedule. Within the two-year recertification cycle, CPhTs must fulfill all continuing education hours (on or before the expiration date). No CE hours earned prior to certification can be utilized to meet recertification requirements. Furthermore, CE hours cannot be carried over to a future recertification cycle.

CPhT Continuing Education requirements

CPhT Certificants must complete a minimum of twenty (20) hours of CE comprising subject matter indicated in PTCB’s Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam® (PTCE®) Content Outline during each two-year recertification cycle. One hour of the 20 hours for recertification applicants must be on the topic of pharmacy law, and one hour must be on the subject of patient safety (as defined by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) in the ACPE Policy and Procedures Manual).

Two of the 20 hours must be on the topic of pharmacy law, and one hour must be on the subject of patient safety for reinstatement applicants. Completing a relevant college course equal to 3 academic credit hours with a grade of “C” or higher can earn you up to 10 of the 20 CE hours. Subject content from the PTCE Content Outline must be included in relevant courses.

CSPT recertification requirements

To keep their certification, CSPTs must recertify every year. This yearly obligation is in line with USP and other authority bodies’ training and competency criteria. A CSPT must be a current PTCB CPhT in good standing to be eligible for recertification. CSPTs must complete a minimum of five hours of sterile compounding continuing education (CE) and submit the CSPT Competency Attestation Form during each one-year recertification cycle. The CSPT certification will be lost if the CPhT certification is revoked due to failure to recertify, revocation, or any other cause.

The CSPT certification expiry month will coincide with the CPhT expiration month after a PTCB CPhT has earned the CSPT certification. If a CSPT certification is acquired within six months of a CPhT expiration date, the certificant must recertify the CSPT certificate one year later. The CSPT expiry date will be October 31, 2019, if the CPhT expiration date is October 31, 2018, and the CSPT first certification date is July 1, 2018.

The certificant must recertify both certificates by the impending CPhT expiration date if the CSPT credential is earned and the CPhT expiration date is more than six months from the initial CSPT certification date. For example, if a PTCB CPhT’s expiration date is March 31, 2019, and the certificant acquired the CSPT designation on July 1, 2018, both certificates must be recertified by March 31, 2019.

Within their one-year recertification cycle, CSPTs must complete all continuing education hours and submit a completed CSPT Competency Attestation Form (on or before the expiration date). There are no CE hours and/or CSPT Competency Attestation Forms that may be utilized to meet recertification criteria if they were completed before certification was issued. Furthermore, CE hours and CSPT Competency Attestation Forms are not transferable to a future recertification cycle.

Why renew your certification? 

• Comply with the requirements of your company and the state board. Pharmacy technicians provide themselves the freedom to work anywhere they want by renewing their qualifications on time. Many organizations want their pharmacy technicians to renew their Pharmacy Technician Licenses, and PTCB works with them. Some State Boards of Pharmacy, in addition to requiring initial certification, also require that you maintain your certification.
• You’ll save both time and money. Maintaining your certification is easier and less expensive than having to reinstate or retake the Pharmacy Technician Certification Test: CPhTs and CSPTs must recertify on time or retake the exam. Employers should ensure that their staff complete CEs and renew their certifications in order to advance safety and their bottom line.
• Take your career to the next level. Maintaining a current certification distinguishes you in a fast-growing field and positions you for progress. Before evaluating technicians for advanced and specialized tasks in the pharmacy, many companies want them to maintain active certification. Maintaining qualifications results in greater pay, new titles, and extended job duties, according to pharmacy technicians.
• Improve the safety of patients. Maintaining your certification reflects your commitment to drug safety and to the pharmacy, as well as allowing you to stay up with the most recent developments in the field.

Certificants who successfully reinstate their certification will have their certification status restored and will be able to use their PTCB credentials and certification marks again. Certificants who have been reinstated will be given the rest of their recertification cycle. When filing a reinstatement application, expired certificants who were previously selected for audit during their recertification term must follow all audit instructions and requirements.

Before you go…

Finding a good resource to practice for your coming exam is the first and most important step. On this website, we provide hundreds of free PTCE practice test questions to help you recall all the PTCB essential knowledge, or download it for your IOS or Android devices. We hope you found this post about PTCB renewal useful. Thank you very much!

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