Connecticut
EMS Recertification in Connecticut
CT OEMS approved continuing education for EMRs, EMTs and paramedics — online and at your own pace.
Connecticut card only? These are your hours. Hold an NREMT card as well? That is two recertifications to keep up, and one course fulfills both agencies’ education requirements. Either way you complete each agency’s own renewal process — none of it is automatic.
One course, both agencies
Covers the education for each
CT OEMS approved
Every level, each with its own course number
Online
Hours at your own pace, no appointments
CT OEMS approval is what makes your hours count here. A CT OEMS approved recertification course renews National Registry certification at all four levels — the content does not have to carry any other accreditation to be accepted.
EMR
16 hours under the NREMT 2025 NCCP model
Connecticut’s mandatory mental health requirement applies at EMR level too. It sits inside the Local/State component, so it is part of the full 16 hours — the whole requirement in one program.
EMR 16-Hour Refresher
16 hours · all three NCCP components
$150
one-time, all courses included
- National, Local/State and Individual
- The full 16 hours an EMR needs
EMR 8-Hour Refresher
8 hours· National NCCP component
$75
- National Component of NREMT 2025 NCCP model
- Additional local/state not included
There is no CPR-and-skills package at EMR level — if you need those, arrange them separately.
EMT
40 hours under the NREMT 2025 NCCP model
Both options carry the same 40 hours — National, Local/State and Individual. The difference is whether the sign-offs come with them.
EMT 40-Hour Refresher
40 hours · all three NCCP components
$250
one-time, all courses included
- Everything online and self-paced
- You arrange your own CPR card and skills verification
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Hours plus the sign-offs
EMT 40-Hour Refresher + CPR Recert & Skills
40 hours · plus CPR recert and skills
$325
one-time
- AHA BLS CPR recertification
- Skills verification, documented and signed
EMT 20-Hour Refresher
20 hours · National NCCP component
$250
National courses included
- Everything online and self-paced
- You arrange your own CPR card and skills verification
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Already hold a current CPR card, and have a training officer who will sign your skills sheet? Then the 40-Hour Refresher is all you need — the $75 difference buys things you already have.
Paramedic
60 hours under the NREMT 2025 NCCP model
Take the National Component on its own, or all three components in one program.
Paramedic 30-Hour Refresher
30 hours · National Component
$175
one-time, all courses included
- Covers the National Component in full
- You supply the 15 Local/State and 15 Individual hours separately
Paramedic 60-Hour Refresher
60 hours · all three NCCP components
$350
one-time, all courses included
- National, Local/State and Individual
- The full 60 hours the National Registry asks for
Connecticut gives you two ways to qualify, and you only need one of them: complete 40 hours of continuing education as required by the NREMT, or be currently certified by the NREMT as an EMT.
If you hold an NREMT card and a Connecticut card, you have two recertifications to keep up. One course fulfills both agencies’ education requirements — Connecticut asks for the hours as required by the NREMT, so the same 40 hours count for both.
Nothing about it is automatic. The course gives you the education; each agency still has its own recertification process and you complete both. The National Registry has its process, Connecticut has its own, and completing one does not file the other for you.
Never been NREMT registered? Common in Connecticut — since 1 January 2020 every initial applicant has had to complete the NREMT process, but anyone certified before then may not hold it. Connecticut follows the NCCP breakdown either way, so these are still exactly the right hours; you simply have one renewal to file instead of two.
Paramedics in Connecticut hold a license, not a certification. You renew it annually by application, and the state does not require any specific continuing education to do so. The 60 hours above are driven by the National Registry, which paramedics generally maintain in order to work under medical control — and skills sign-off at paramedic level comes from your agency.
When you have to renew
Connecticut requires you to renew on or before your expiration date. OEMS emails a renewal notice three months before the posted date — but only to the address in your e-license account, so it is worth checking that address is current.
There is a three month grace period after the expiration date in which you can still renew. If the credential is not renewed by the end of it, the certification expires and you can no longer practice as an EMS clinician — getting it back then means going through reinstatement rather than renewal.
Do not plan around the grace period. Three months sounds like room, but it is time to complete and document 40 hours, get a skills verification signed, and have the paperwork processed. Starting your hours before the expiration date is the whole point of the renewal notice.
Connecticut's mandatory mental health hours
Connecticut requires a mental health program inside the Local/State component at EMR, EMT and AEMT level — either QPR or an OEMS-approved PTSD and suicide prevention course. Ours is Fit for Duty, Fit for Life: online, satisfies Connecticut Public Act 21-46, and one of the few courses listed on the CT OEMS website as approved for that requirement.
It is included in every Connecticut EMR and EMT refresher on this page. It is a state requirement sitting inside the Local/State component, not an add-on — so you are not sourcing QPR or a PTSD course separately, whichever program you buy.
Hours are not the whole recertification
Both the National Registry and CT OEMS require documented skills verification by an EMS instructor — medical and trauma assessment, airway management, cardiac arrest with an AED at all ages, hemorrhage control, and at EMT level spinal motion restriction and splinting. That is a T-6 form or equivalent, signed by your training officer, and it is separate from continuing education hours.
A current AHA BLS CPR card is required to work, not to recertify — but the hours from a CPR class do count toward your recertification total, and can be split between cardiac and airway if you need them there.
If you would rather not arrange those yourself, the EMT 40-Hour Refresher + CPR Recert & Skills bundles the hours, the CPR recertification and the skills verification in one registration.
Common questions
An EMR needs 16, an EMT 40 and a paramedic 60. Each total splits into three components — National, Local/State and Individual.
Connecticut follows the NCCP breakdown, so those totals apply whether you hold National Registry certification or Connecticut certification alone.
For your National Registry recertification there is no limit — since 2022 the NREMT places no cap on how much online education you can put on your application. The programs here are CT OEMS approved, each with its own course number, and the hours are completable online.
Connecticut accepts your continuing education entirely online — there is no in-person requirement for the hours themselves. If you hold certification in another state as well, check that state’s rules, because not all of them allow it.
Recertification as a whole is not entirely online, though, and that is true everywhere: the skills verification has to be done in person with an EMS instructor. So the hours are online, the skills check is not.
The education does, if you hold an NREMT card as well as a Connecticut one. Connecticut asks for 40 hours as required by the NREMT, and the National Registry accepts State EMS Office accepted education — so one course fulfills both agencies’ education requirements and you are not sitting through it twice.
The renewals themselves are not automatic and are not combined. You go through the National Registry’s process for that certification, and Connecticut’s process for your state card. Two applications, two deadlines, one set of hours behind them.
A current AHA BLS card is required to work rather than to recertify — but the hours from a CPR class do count toward your total. If you need the card as well as the hours, the EMT 40-Hour Refresher + CPR Recert & Skills includes it.
If you certified in Connecticut on or after 1 January 2020 you will have one — the NREMT process has been part of initial certification since then. There is no requirement to maintain it once you hold a Connecticut card, and plenty of people let it lapse.
Worth knowing before you do: keeping it costs you no extra education. Connecticut asks for its hours as required by the NREMT, so the same 40 hours you are already doing for your state renewal satisfy the National Registry’s education requirement as well. What keeping it adds is the National Registry’s own renewal process, not more coursework.
It matters most if you might ever certify in another state, since a Connecticut card does not travel on its own. Connecticut itself shows how central the National Registry has become: anyone seeking Connecticut certification by endorsement from another state has to present NREMT certification.
Connecticut allows a three month grace period after your expiration date, during which you can still renew. After that the certification expires, you can no longer practice as an EMS clinician, and you have to go through reinstatement rather than renewal.
OEMS emails a renewal notice three months before your expiration date, to the address in your e-license account — so keep that address current.
The National Registry excludes duplicate courses, clinical rotations, instructor courses, management and leadership courses, performance of duty, preceptor hours, serving as a skill examiner, and volunteer time with an agency. Everything you do count has to be directly related to EMS patient care.
These programs are approved by CT OEMS rather than CAPCE accredited. The National Registry accepts State EMS Office approved education, so the hours count toward your National Registry recertification — but whether your own state accepts another state’s approved education is a separate question, so check with its EMS office before you buy.