A California fluoroscopy permit renewal runs on a two-year cycle and requires three things before your expiration date: the correct continuing education credits earned in the two years leading up to renewal, a completed renewal application, and the applicable fee (currently $104 for a non-expired X-ray technologist permit). Miss the deadline and your permit is suspended automatically; wait six months and it’s revoked; wait five years and it’s canceled outright.
Continuing Education You Need Before You Renew
Every required CE credit must be earned in the two years immediately before your permit expires, in subjects related to applying X-rays to the human body, and through providers the Radiologic Health Branch recognizes. What counts as “required” depends on which permit you hold.
Certified Radiologic Technologists with an RTF Permit
CRTs need 24 approved CE credits per cycle. Inside that 24, four credits must be in digital radiography and four must be in radiation safety for the clinical uses of fluoroscopy. A single course that covers both digital radiography and fluoroscopy radiation safety can count toward both specialty buckets at once.1Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 17 Section 30403 – Requirements for Continuing Education
The digital radiography piece is the one technologists most often forget. Both specialty requirements sit inside the 24-credit total, not on top of it, but each bucket has to be filled before the RHB will process the renewal.
Licensed Practitioners with a Supervisor and Operator Permit
Physicians, osteopathic physicians, podiatrists, and chiropractors renewing a Fluoroscopy Supervisor and Operator permit need 10 approved CE credits per cycle, four of them specifically in radiation safety for the clinical uses of fluoroscopy. The remaining six must still relate to applying X-rays to the human body.2California Department of Public Health. Continuing Education Requirements for Certificate/Permit Renewal Physician assistants may hold either the S&O permit or the RTF permit depending on how they use fluoroscopy, so confirm which one applies before counting credits.3Legal Information Institute. California Code of Regulations Title 17 Section 30456.2 – Eligibility for and Renewal of a Supervisor and Operator Permit
Keep your certificates of completion. The RHB requires you to hold on to proof of CE for four years after the credits were earned, so filing them away after you renew is not optional.
What Renewal Costs
Fees are charged per credential, so if you hold more than one certificate or permit, each carries its own fee. The amount depends on whether your permit is current or already expired when you send in the paperwork.
For X-ray technologists and certified supervisors and operators:
- Non-expired permit: $104.00
- Expired within six months: $120.00
- Expired more than six months but within five years: $224.00
Physician assistants holding fluoroscopy permits pay more: $154.00 for a current permit, $170.00 within six months of expiration, and $324.00 between six months and five years past expiration.4California Department of Public Health. RHB Certification Billing FAQs All fees are nonrefundable.
How to Submit the Renewal
The RHB mails a renewal notice to the address it has on file about 90 days before your expiration date. That notice is your renewal form. If it never arrives or you lose it, download a Special Renewal Application form matched to your credential:
- CRTs: CDPH 8200 SRA III
- Physician assistants (fluoroscopy): CDPH 8217 SRA III
- Licensed practitioners (S&O permits): CDPH 8238 SRA III
The forms live on the RHB’s Special Renewal Applications page.5California Department of Public Health. RHB – Special Renewal Apps On the application, list your certificate or permit number and, for each CE activity, the course name, provider, date, and credit count. Gather your certificates before you start.
Mail the completed application with a check or money order payable to “CDPH-RHB” to the Sacramento P.O. Box printed on your renewal notice or SRA form. Processing runs four to six weeks after the RHB receives your packet. A temporary authorization may be available so you can keep working while the official permit is printed and mailed.
An outdated address on file is the single most common reason technologists miss their renewal. If you’ve moved, update your address with the RHB through its address change process well before you’re due.
What Happens If Your Permit Expires
The consequences step up on a fixed timeline. Failing to pay the renewal fee by the expiration date automatically suspends the permit. At six months past expiration, the permit is revoked. You can still reinstate a revoked permit within five years by paying the reinstatement fee ($224 for X-ray technologists) and completing all CE credits required for the lapsed period. Past five years the permit is canceled and cannot be reinstated at all; you’d file a new initial application and sit for the required examinations again.4California Department of Public Health. RHB Certification Billing FAQs
Paying the fee alone won’t save you. The RHB will not process a renewal if the required CE credits aren’t complete, and you cannot legally work with an expired permit while you catch up.2California Department of Public Health. Continuing Education Requirements for Certificate/Permit Renewal
Working Without a Valid Permit
Performing fluoroscopy without proper certification is a misdemeanor under California’s Radiologic Technology Act, punishable by a fine of up to $5,000 per day per offense, up to 180 days in county jail, or both. If the violation is intentional or grossly negligent and creates a substantial danger to health, an additional civil penalty of up to $5,000 per day per offense applies on top of the criminal penalties, and the statute reaches employers who aid or abet the violation as well.6California Legislative Information. California Health and Safety Code Section 107075 – Violations and Penalties
In practice, the workplace consequences arrive first. Most hospitals and imaging centers pull technologists off fluoroscopy assignments the moment a permit status shows lapsed, well before any state enforcement action lands. That lost income, plus the climbing reinstatement fees, is why renewals are worth starting the day the RHB notice arrives.