Licensure, License Renewal, and Continuing Competence
Licensure and continuing competence items cover the life cycle of a Georgia physical therapy license: how it is obtained, how it is renewed, how competence is documented, and what happens when it lapses. The exam expects you to know the pathway and the consequences of practicing outside it.
Initial licensure
- Graduation from a program accredited by CAPTE; foreign-trained applicants go through a credentials review.
- Passing the National Physical Therapy Examination, plus any jurisprudence examination the Board requires.
- Criminal background check and fingerprinting, evidence of good moral character, and no disqualifying disciplinary history.
- Licensure by endorsement for therapists licensed elsewhere whose requirements are substantially equivalent; the Board reviews examination scores and disciplinary records.
Renewal
Georgia licenses are renewed on a biennial cycle set by Board rule. Renewal is the licensee's responsibility even if a notice never arrives; practicing on an expired license is unlicensed practice and a disciplinary ground. Late renewal usually carries an additional fee, and a license lapsed for an extended period may require a reinstatement application, documentation of continuing competence, or reexamination.
Continuing competence
The Board requires a defined number of continuing competence hours each renewal cycle - the figure to know is 30 hours per biennium - with mandated content such as ethics and jurisprudence and limits on how many hours may come from online or self-study. Only courses from accepted providers or approved activities count. Licensees keep certificates and documentation and produce them in an audit; failure to document the hours is treated as failure to have them.
Worked example
A therapist lets her license expire on the renewal date and continues treating patients for six weeks, then renews online with a late fee. The renewal fixes the license going forward but does not cure the six weeks of practice on an expired license. Those dates are reportable, the employer should be notified, and the Board can pursue discipline regardless of whether any patient was harmed.
Traps
Counting continuing education hours from unapproved providers; assuming CPR or clinic in-service training automatically counts; assuming a renewal notice is what creates the obligation; assuming a lapsed license can be restored by paying the fee alone.