Washington Massage Therapy Continuing Education & Renewal Requirements
CE hours: 24 hrs. Massage therapist licenses renew annually.
Statewide requirements and local rules are identified separately. This page is general information, not legal advice.
Overview
CE and renewal at a glance
Licensing information reviewed 2026-08-02
- CE hours
- 24 hrs
- License renewal
- Massage therapist licenses renew annually.
- CE reporting period
- Continuing education is reported over a two-year period even though the massage-therapist credential renews annually.
Check the requirement's scope, exceptions and reporting period. An item marked “Not confirmed” never means that no CE is required.
Responsible authority
Washington State Department of Health, Board of Massage
- AuthorityVisit the official authority
- RenewalOfficial renewal information
- StatutesOfficial statutes or rules
The authority’s current rules govern your renewal. Confirm requirements with it before you rely on a course or a date.
CE hours
- CE requirement and exceptions
Licensees complete 24 hours of continuing education every two years while renewing the credential annually. The Department states that the full rule requirements again apply after expiration of the temporary COVID-era hands-on waiver.
- Hour total
24
Renewal timing and fees
- Renewal cycle
Massage therapist licenses renew annually.
- Renewal deadline
The credential expires on the licensee's birthday and may be renewed within 90 days before expiration. Renewal is required on or before the expiration date even if a courtesy notice is not received.
- Renewal fees
The current annual renewal fee is $166, including the $16 HEALWA assessment. The listed late-renewal penalty is $75, and expired-license reissuance is $50 in addition to other applicable fees.
Reporting period, first renewal and carryover
- CE reporting periodConfirm details
Continuing education is reported over a two-year period even though the massage-therapist credential renews annually.
The ordinary reporting period is sourced; how the first renewal is calculated is not confirmed.
- Carryover
Continuing-education hours may not be carried over from one reporting period to another under WAC 246-12-230.
- First renewal / prorationNot confirmed
The applicable requirement or implementation remains unresolved; confirm with the responsible authority.
Required topics
- Required categories
Within each two-year CE reporting period, at least 8 of the 24 hours must be in-person, directly supervised hands-on massage; at least 4 hours must cover ethics, client or patient communication, professional roles and boundaries, or Washington massage laws and rules; and at least 2 hours must cover health equity. Current CPR certification must be maintained and may account for no more than 4 hours per reporting period. The massage-specific two-year health-equity requirement is more frequent than the generally applicable four-year healthcare-profession minimum.
- State-specific topics
Washington requires hands-on, ethics-or-law, and health-equity components within its biennial CE framework. The massage-specific two-year health-equity requirement applies more frequently than the general four-year healthcare-profession minimum. The renewal requirements hold the exact rules.
- CPR / first aid
Within each two-year CE reporting period, at least 8 of the 24 hours must be in-person, directly supervised hands-on massage; at least 4 hours must cover ethics, client or patient communication, professional roles and boundaries, or Washington massage laws and rules; and at least 2 hours must cover health equity. Current CPR certification must be maintained and may account for no more than 4 hours per reporting period. The massage-specific two-year health-equity requirement is more frequent than the generally applicable four-year healthcare-profession minimum.
Online and course format
- Online and course format
Within each two-year CE reporting period, at least 8 of the 24 hours must be in-person, directly supervised hands-on massage; at least 4 hours must cover ethics, client or patient communication, professional roles and boundaries, or Washington massage laws and rules; and at least 2 hours must cover health equity. Current CPR certification must be maintained and may account for no more than 4 hours per reporting period. The massage-specific two-year health-equity requirement is more frequent than the generally applicable four-year healthcare-profession minimum.
- Practical / hands-on
Within each two-year CE reporting period, at least 8 of the 24 hours must be in-person, directly supervised hands-on massage; at least 4 hours must cover ethics, client or patient communication, professional roles and boundaries, or Washington massage laws and rules; and at least 2 hours must cover health equity. Current CPR certification must be maintained and may account for no more than 4 hours per reporting period. The massage-specific two-year health-equity requirement is more frequent than the generally applicable four-year healthcare-profession minimum.
Proof of CE, audits and record keeping
- Renewal documentation
Licensees declare CE compliance at renewal and retain acceptable documentation for audit. WAC 246-830-475 specifies participant, course, delivery-mode, instructor or sponsor, hour, and authenticated-completion elements. Under the general credential rules, up to 25 percent of renewals may be randomly audited, selected licensees have 60 days to submit documentation, and CE records must be kept for four years.
- Reporting and proof of CE
Licensees declare CE compliance at renewal and retain acceptable completion documentation for four years. Up to 25 percent of renewals may be randomly audited, and a selected licensee has 60 days to submit documentation. The renewal requirements include the detailed audit and documentation rules.
- Certificate requirements
Licensees declare CE compliance at renewal and retain acceptable documentation for audit. WAC 246-830-475 specifies participant, course, delivery-mode, instructor or sponsor, hour, and authenticated-completion elements. Under the general credential rules, up to 25 percent of renewals may be randomly audited, selected licensees have 60 days to submit documentation, and CE records must be kept for four years.
- Record retention
Licensees declare CE compliance at renewal and retain acceptable completion documentation for four years. Up to 25 percent of renewals may be randomly audited, and a selected licensee has 60 days to submit documentation. The renewal requirements include the detailed audit and documentation rules.
- Audits
Licensees declare CE compliance at renewal and retain acceptable completion documentation for four years. Up to 25 percent of renewals may be randomly audited, and a selected licensee has 60 days to submit documentation. The renewal requirements include the detailed audit and documentation rules.
- Renewal attestation
Licensees declare CE compliance at renewal and retain acceptable completion documentation for four years. Up to 25 percent of renewals may be randomly audited, and a selected licensee has 60 days to submit documentation. The renewal requirements include the detailed audit and documentation rules.
Approved providers and courses
- How CE is approved
Washington defines qualifying subject matter, delivery, instructors, and documentation in rule rather than publishing one general Board-approved CE-provider marketplace. Use the renewal requirements for the detailed hour and subject requirements.
- Provider & course recognition
The Board does not approve individual CE courses, curricula, or providers. Licensees must determine whether an activity meets WAC 246-830-475; the rule requires an instructor with at least three years of professional experience in the subject and enumerates qualifying activities and limits. A commercial provider listing is not covered here.
- Official CE resourceConfirm details
Washington Department of Health massage continuing-education guidance
Open official resource →Use the authority's current provider and course acceptance rules.
- Official CE resourceConfirm details
Washington Department of Health health-equity training resources
Open official resource →Use the authority's current provider and course acceptance rules.
- Professional organizations' role in CENot confirmed
The official sources for this item are missing or incomplete, so no answer is shown.
Late renewal, reinstatement and inactive status
- Late renewal / reinstatement
A credential not renewed by its expiration date becomes expired and does not authorize practice. Reissuance requirements escalate after one renewal cycle and again at three years; a massage credential expired for at least three years also requires proof of 24 CE hours completed during the preceding two years.
- Inactive status / reactivation
Washington permits an inactive massage credential for a practitioner in good standing who will not practice in Washington. An inactive credential renews on the practitioner's birthday with the inactive renewal fee. To return to active status, the practitioner notifies the department, pays the current active renewal fee, and provides the required written declarations, including that the continuing education and competency requirements for the two most recent years have been met.
Who these requirements apply to
- Credential and statewide scope
A Washington massage-therapist license is generally required statewide to practice massage or use protected massage titles. Local governments may license massage businesses within the limits stated by state law but may not add discriminatory therapist-licensing requirements.
- Local requirements
A state-licensed therapist seeking a city, town, code-city, or county license to operate a massage business must provide state-license verification. The local fee may not exceed the fee imposed on similar health care providers, and the therapist may not face additional licensing requirements not imposed on those providers. General nondiscriminatory business fees and gross-business taxes may still apply. This information does not determine any locality's current rules.
Changes in the law
- Rulemaking / implementation: Massage endorsement and education rulemakingConfirm details
Checked on 2026-09-19: both items remain at the pre-proposal stage and neither has been adopted. WAC 246-830-035, licensing by endorsement, has a CR-101 filed 2023-03-10 (WSR 23-07-064); WAC 246-830-430, education and training, has a CR-101 filed 2023-05-24 (WSR 23-12-002). The Department's rules-in-progress page lists no hearing date and no effective date for either, so no future-effective change is encoded. That coverage is the Department's rules-in-progress page only; the Washington State Register was not searched separately.
Use the stated effective date and confirm implementation with the authority.
Authoritative sources
Sources for Washington
Each answer shows the date it was reviewed and numbers the official sources behind it. An access date records when a source was last opened; it does not change a review date.
- Washington Department of Health — Massage Therapist Continuing Educationaccessed
- Washington Administrative Code Chapter 246-830 — Massage Therapists, last updated September 11, 2023accessed
- Revised Code of Washington Chapter 18.108 — Massage Therapistsaccessed
- RCW 35.21.692 — City and Town Authority to Regulate Massage Therapistsaccessed
- RCW 35A.82.025 — Code City Authority to Regulate Massage Therapistsaccessed
- RCW 36.32.122 — County Massage-Business Licensingaccessed
- Washington Department of Health — Massage Therapist Licensing Informationaccessed
- Washington Department of Health — Massage Therapist Frequently Asked Questionsaccessed
- RCW 43.70.613 — Health Equity Continuing Educationaccessed
- WAC 246-12-820 and 246-12-830 — Health Equity Training Frequency and Contentaccessed
- WAC 246-12-180 — Continuing Education Compliance Declarationaccessed
- WAC 246-12-190 — Continuing Education Auditsaccessed
- WAC 246-12-200 — Continuing Education Recordsaccessed
- WAC 246-12-230 — Continuing Education Carryoveraccessed
- WAC 246-12-040 — Expired Credentialsaccessed
- WAC 246-830-575 — Expired Massage Therapist Credentialaccessed
- WAC 246-12-090 — Inactive Credential Statusaccessed
- WAC 246-12-100 — Renewal of an Inactive Credentialaccessed
- WAC 246-12-110 — Return to Active Credential Statusaccessed
- WAC 246-830-475 — Continuing Education Requirements, effective January 1, 2024accessed
- Washington Department of Health — Health Equity Continuing Educationaccessed
- Washington Department of Health — Massage Therapist Rules in Progressaccessed