If you have a fluoroscopy license in California, this article is for you.
Getting the wrong type of fluoro credit can delay your fluoro license renewal in California, which is a major inconvenience. Fortunately, we've made it easy to earn the exact credits you need for your fluoro license renewal . As an added bonus, this credit also satisfies your CA Medical Board and specialty board credit requirements.
Every 2 years, you'll need to earn 10 fluoroscopy credits to go with your fluoroscopy license renewal for the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Radiological Health Branch (RHB). Four of these credits should have a certificate that specifically relates to radiation safety. The credits need to be properly approved by an accredited body in order to survive audit.
We've made CA fluoro license renewal a priority, because we renew our CA fluoro licenses too—the founding staff at Orbit CME includes radiologists with fluoroscopy licenses in California, and radiologists who teach radiology physics at the national level to radiology residents.
💡Your California fluoroscopy license is officially called the X-Ray Supervisor and Operator Certificate.
Here’s how to get started:
1. Sign up for Orbit Fluoro
Sign up for one of the Fluoro plans, or sign up for any Orbit CME plan that relates to your specialty—you'll be able to earn fluoroscopy and radiation safety credits either way.
During onboarding, make sure that your specialty is set to your discipline (anesthesiology, internal medicine, neurosurgery, orthopedic surgery, radiology, urology, etc.).
If you signed up with a specialty-specific Orbit CME plan, click on the license selector.
Click on Fluoroscopy (CA RHB Renewal).
Set your Fluoro renewal date.
Once you've signed up, you might want to read this primer, but you could also just push ahead: How do I get started earning credits in Orbit?
2. Read any eligible abstract or article related to radiation safety or fluroscopy.
If you’re reading through your Orbit Dashboard
First, check if your license on the Dashboard says Fluoroscopy (CA RHB) Renewal.
Click on either the Radiation Safety or Fluoroscopy goal cards and read abstracts that you find interesting. See also: How do I earn credits through my Orbit Dashboard?
If you’re using Ambient Mode
Chrome/Edge Browser extension
Check that:
You’re using Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge
You have the Orbit extension installed
iOS app
Check that:
You have the Orbit iOS app installed
You’re logged into your Orbit account in the app
Start reading any eligible abstract or article related to radiation safety or fluoroscopy. Beginning your exploration from PubMed is the most efficient way to explore reputable, peer-reviewed, current, and open-access articles. Either abstracts on radiation safety or the full-text version of the article count for 0.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ using Orbit CME.
Learn more:
💡 Finding relevant abstracts on PubMed. Be sure to use the search filter on the left that says "Abstracts" to filter for entries with the complete abstract text. Try searching "radiation safety fluoroscopy" or "fluoroscopy", and then try adding search terms related to your specialty or specific fluoroscopy procedures in your scope of practice.
3. Redeem detected abstracts or articles for credit
Learn more here: How do I redeem detected articles for credit?
Be sure to use the Fluoroscopy and Radiation Safety tags, so that your certificates indicate those topics specifically. You'll need 8 abstracts tagged in Radiation Safety, and 12 abstracts tagged in Fluoroscopy. Be sure the abstracts you tag are topical and relevant to those topics; you can be audited to the level of the specific abstracts you used for credit.
4. Complete and submit your Fluoroscopy renewal form
Filling out the form correctly is essential to having your renewal approved, particularly in the area where the form asks for information about your fluoroscopy and radiations safety credit. Here is how you should designate the course title, provider, contact information, and group:
Be sure to use separate lines for radiation safety and fluoroscopy. The credit you earn through Orbit is AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™ which is accepted by the Medical Board of California, which is why you're choosing Group (b).
Contact information is a field you may see on these lines related to the CME provider. Use support@orbitcme.com.
If you're ever audited by the RHB, they require that you submit topic-specific certificates and audit reports from Orbit CME for the relevant time period, which is two years preceding your fluoroscopy license expiration date.
💡Your fluoroscopy renewal form may look slightly different, because the CA RHB revises the form slightly from year to year.
Questions? Email support@orbitcme.com.