Open a jurisdiction to review its dated requirements and official sources. Use the compact tables to compare which states participate.
All 51 jurisdictions · Compact status table · Plan the crossing: offshore · 911 ground · IFT
Can I work a 13-week contract here on my home-state licence?
Only with the hiring agency’s cooperation
Agency-dependent per EMSIB 2025-06: a Pennsylvania agency adds the PTP provider to its agency PTP roster and the agency medical director credentials them as other agency personnel; a separate Pennsylvania EMSVO certification is still required to drive.
Agency-dependent per EMSIB 2025-06: a Pennsylvania agency adds the PTP provider to its agency PTP roster and the agency medical director credentials them as other agency personnel; a separate Pennsylvania EMSVO certification is still required to drive. Contract eligibility turns on the hiring agency and its medical director, not on privilege duration alone.
State EMS office · pa.gov · verified 2 Oct 2026 · Partly supported
Requirements include source links and review dates. Expand each source quotation for the supporting text. Unverified and incomplete information is labelled alongside the relevant requirement.
The office that issues the card, and the law it issues it under.
4 of 5 answered from a source · 1 written up as absences
Who actually issues an EMS licence in Pennsylvania?
Pennsylvania Department of Health, Bureau of Emergency Medical Services
The Department of Health, Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, is the state agency responsible for the development and coordination of a statewide EMS system.
health.pa.gov · State EMS office
Where is Pennsylvania's EMS licensing office online?
Where do I actually submit an application in Pennsylvania?
Not yet verified
PA EMS portal (EMS Registry System) link to be verified for stable primary URL.
Who do I call or email about Pennsylvania licensure?
PAEMSoffice@pa.gov
Which statute or rule governs EMS licensure in Pennsylvania?
35 Pa.C.S. Chapter 81 (Emergency Medical Services System Act); 28 Pa. Code Chapter 1023
The Department of Health, Bureau of Emergency Medical Services, is the state agency responsible for the development and coordination of a statewide EMS system.
health.pa.gov · State EMS office
Levels, term, and what your National Registry does and does not buy you.
5 of 6 answered from a source · 1 written up as absences
What levels does Pennsylvania issue, and what does my cert become there?
Emergency Medical Responder (EMR)
Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)
Advanced EMT (AEMT)
Paramedic (P)
Prehospital Registered Nurse (PHRN)
Pennsylvania certifies EMR, EMT, AEMT, Paramedic, and PHRN.
How long does a Pennsylvania licence last before renewal?
Partly supported
Pennsylvania operates on a 3-year certification cycle for EMTs.
Do I need National Registry to get licensed in Pennsylvania?
Yes
Initial certification requires passing the NREMT examination.
Do I have to keep National Registry current to keep a Pennsylvania licence?
No
Pennsylvania requires state-approved CE for recertification; maintaining NREMT registration is not mandatory.
Does Pennsylvania make me sit its own exam?
Yes
PA requires passing NREMT written exam and PA psychomotor exam.
What criminal history bars me from licensure in Pennsylvania?
Not established in the cited source
Statute authorizes background review but specific mandatory disqualifying offenses are in administrative regulations.
The EMS Compact — formally REPLICA, the Recognition of EMS Personnel Licensure Interstate Compact. Enacted, in force, and verifiable status are separate dated facts, plus what privilege covers.
7 of 10 answered from a source · 3 written up as absences
Has Pennsylvania passed the EMS Compact into law?
Nothing recorded
Pennsylvania enacted via SB 861 (P.L. 477, No. 45), signed July 7, 2022, per the Commission Pennsylvania page. Corrects the former Act 35 citation: 35 Pa.C.S. is the EMS code title, not the 2022 session law.
On July 7, 2022, Governor Tom Wolf signed SB 861, P.L. 477, No. 45 , making Pennsylvania the twenty-second EMS Compact participating state.
emscompact.gov · EMS Compact Commission
Is Pennsylvania's compact law actually in effect yet?
Nothing recorded
Act 45 §3 takes effect immediately; the act header date of July 7, 2022 was read on the official act page. No delayed clause.
20220045u3s Section 3. Effective date. This act shall take effect immediately.
legis.state.pa.us · State legislature
Can my Privilege to Practice actually be verified in Pennsylvania?
Non-integration is a verification gap, not a legal bar: qualified Pennsylvania-licensed clinicians may still hold valid privilege, verifiable via the Pennsylvania EMS office. No completion date announced.
Pennsylvania is not yet submitting data to NEMSCD. A connection to the state license management system is in progress, and an anticipated completion date has not yet been announced. Qualified clinicians licensed in Pennsylvania may still hold a valid Privilege to Practice that is not yet displayed in NEMSCD. Contact the Pennsylvania EMS Office for verification assistance.
emscompact.gov · EMS Compact Commission
What do I have to satisfy for compact privilege to apply in Pennsylvania?
Partly supported
National conditions per the Commission's current Privilege to Practice FAQ, not a Pennsylvania statement. Support is partial: the retained passage covers the four numbered requirements plus remote-state compliance; the EMR exclusion is a national condition not enumerated in that passage. Whether Pennsylvania or its agencies impose anything further has not been established from a Pennsylvania source — additional state/agency onboarding unknown.
To exercise it, you must meet four requirements. 1 Be at least 18 years of age. Section 4.B.1 2 Hold a current, unrestricted license in at least one EMS Compact participating state, as an EMT, AEMT, Paramedic, or a state-recognized level between EMT and Paramedic. Section 4.B.2 3 Affiliate with an EMS agency in the remote state that provides EMS medical direction. Section 4.B.3 4 Adhere to the Commission's Professional Code of Conduct . Rules 4.0(E) and 4.6 Then, as you practice: follow the local scope of practice, protocols, and laws of the state you are working in, under Rule 4.4 of the Commission's administrative rules.
emscompact.gov · EMS Compact Commission
Which situations does compact privilege cover in Pennsylvania?
Not yet verified
No Pennsylvania-published enumeration of covered circumstances located. The Commission frames privilege nationally as applying at all times rather than by enumerated circumstance, but that is a national statement not confirmed against Pennsylvania rule.
When do I need full Pennsylvania licensure instead of privilege?
Not yet verified
Removed the former blanket claim that full Pennsylvania certification is required for all practice pending integration: non-integration is a verification gap, not a legal bar, and qualified clinicians may hold valid privilege. What specifically still requires full Pennsylvania certification is not established — not a blanket legal bar in either direction.
Can I work a 13-week contract in Pennsylvania on my home-state licence?
Only with the hiring agency’s cooperation
Partly supported
Agency-dependent per EMSIB 2025-06: a Pennsylvania agency adds the PTP provider to its agency PTP roster and the agency medical director credentials them as other agency personnel; a separate Pennsylvania EMSVO certification is still required to drive. Contract eligibility turns on the hiring agency and its medical director, not on privilege duration alone.
The Pennsylvania EMS Registry has been updated so EMS agency managers can utilize these eligible providers without completing the certification by endorsement process. Any agency utilizing out of state EMS Compact providers must add the PTP provider to their roster as described below. For the purposes of safety or spot inspections regional EMS council staff will verify a PTP provider's status via their home state's certification and your agency's PTP roster in the EMS Registry. The EMS agency medical director is responsible for credentialing a PTP provider via the same process as they credential the agency's other EMS personnel, specifically at the ALS level.
pa.gov · State EMS office
I have an old or inactive Pennsylvania card — can I still use compact privilege here?
Conflicting or incomplete source information
No compound value recorded — ambiguous. Currently held licences make Home States, and Position Paper 2024-01's worked Kansas scenario counts a still-held voluntarily inactive licence as a Home State with no privilege there, while voluntarily electing inactive status is not an adverse action; the paper does not support extrapolating that holding to every expired, surrendered, or revoked status. Whether Pennsylvania offers an inactive status and what reactivation requires is not established from a Pennsylvania source.
Does Pennsylvania add anything on top of the compact?
Partly supported
Per EMSIB 2025-06: agency PTP roster, same-process medical-director credentialing (specifically ALS), and a separate EMSVO to drive. Quote supports the roster-plus-credentialing passage; the EMSVO sentence sits elsewhere in the bulletin — partial.
The Pennsylvania EMS Registry has been updated so EMS agency managers can utilize these eligible providers without completing the certification by endorsement process. Any agency utilizing out of state EMS Compact providers must add the PTP provider to their roster as described below. For the purposes of safety or spot inspections regional EMS council staff will verify a PTP provider's status via their home state's certification and your agency's PTP roster in the EMS Registry. The EMS agency medical director is responsible for credentialing a PTP provider via the same process as they credential the agency's other EMS personnel, specifically at the ALS level.
pa.gov · State EMS office
Where does an employer verify my privilege for Pennsylvania?
Partly supported
National lookup uses the clinician's 12-digit National EMS ID, distinct from state licence and NREMT numbers. Pennsylvania is not yet submitting its license records: qualified clinicians licensed here may hold valid privilege without a database display. Travelers licensed in another home state depend on that issuing state's submissions. Contact the relevant state EMS office for verification assistance; missing display alone is not a legal bar.
Verify a Privilege to Practice Confirm whether an EMS clinician holds an active Compact Privilege to Practice using their National EMS ID.
emscompact.gov · EMS Compact Commission
The route in when privilege does not cover you.
8 of 9 answered from a source · 1 written up as absences
Will Pennsylvania recognise my out-of-state certification at all?
Yes
Pennsylvania provides an out-of-state reciprocity pathway for clinicians holding current NREMT or state certification.
What does Pennsylvania call its out-of-state pathway?
EMS Reciprocity Certification
Where do I start a reciprocity application for Pennsylvania?
What does Pennsylvania require from an out-of-state applicant?
Current NREMT or out-of-state certification
Background Check
What does it cost to get licensed in Pennsylvania from out of state?
Pennsylvania Bureau of EMS does not charge a state application fee for personnel reciprocity.
How long will Pennsylvania take to process my application?
Not established in the cited source
Pennsylvania publishes no statutory or official processing time for reciprocity applications.
What background check does Pennsylvania require, and how do I do it from out of state?
Partly supported
Pennsylvania requires a PA State Police criminal history clearance (PATCH).
Can I start working in Pennsylvania before full approval?
No
Pennsylvania does not issue temporary provisional permits for reciprocity applicants.
Does my National Registry have to be current to apply in Pennsylvania?
Yes
The renewal clock and what it costs in hours.
4 of 7 answered from a source · 3 written up as absences
How often do I recert in Pennsylvania?
3
Partly supported
Confidence is medium because the cycle length is read from the Department of Health EMS pages rather than from the registration statute itself; the underlying rule chapter has not been read.
How many CE hours does Pennsylvania want, and in what?
EMT
Paramedic
Partly supported
Confidence is medium because the hour totals are published by the Department without a per-level content-area breakdown of the kind Texas publishes, so the value captures totals only.
Can I use NCCP hours to recert in Pennsylvania, or does it want its own?
NCCP hours are accepted
Partly supported
Confidence is medium because Pennsylvania does not use the term NCCP on the pages read; the classification is inferred from which renewal routes it offers.
What does Pennsylvania require at renewal that other states do not?
Not established in the cited source
CE distribution specified in PA Department of Health EMS bulletins.
Does Pennsylvania make me take a refresher course to recert?
No
My Pennsylvania cert expired — can I still get it back?
Not established in the cited source
Reinstatement procedures governed by 28 Pa. Code § 1023.31.
Where do I find CE that Pennsylvania will accept?
Not yet verified
Approved CE providers listed on PA EMS Registry Portal.
Where a service record shortens the path.
3 of 4 answered from a source · 1 written up as absences
Does Pennsylvania have a faster route for military training or veterans?
Yes
Pennsylvania provides military reciprocity for trained service members.
What does Pennsylvania's military pathway actually get me?
Military members trained in EMS may apply for reciprocity certification.
Where does Pennsylvania document its military pathway?
Does Pennsylvania extend its military pathway to spouses?
Not yet verified
Military spouse provisions governed by PA Act 35 / Act 73.
DEA rewrote the narcotics rules for EMS in February 2026. Registration moved from the medical director to the agency itself, and the rule spells out storage, restocking and standing-order administration. These rules are federal and read the same in every state.
10 federal facts, quoted from the Federal Register · 2 of 2 Pennsylvania facts answered from state law
What changed, and when did it take effect?
The DEA final rule implementing the Protecting Patient Access to Emergency Medications Act of 2017 (PPAEMA). It amends 21 CFR parts 1300, 1301, 1304 and following to create the EMS agency registration and the storage, delivery and recordkeeping rules below.
Who holds the DEA registration an ambulance operates under?
Before this rule most services ran narcotics under their medical director's practitioner registration. The registration now belongs to the agency, as its own DEA business-activity category.
the Act directs the Attorney General (and thus the Administrator) to allow a registered EMS agency to obtain a single registration for each State in which the EMS agency administers controlled substances, rather than requiring the agency to obtain a separate registration for each location at which it operates within that State.
Does one DEA registration cover operating in another state?
The fact that matters most to a traveler: compact privilege can carry your licence across a border, but it does not carry your agency's DEA registration. An agency running trucks in two states registers twice.
EMS agencies that wish to operate in multiple States must register with DEA in each State in which they operate.
Can a medic administer controlled substances without the medical director present?
Federal law now says yes, but only where state law agrees: EMS professionals are only allowed to make such administrations if authorized by State law. Whether your state's law does is the per-state question at the end of this section.
the Act allows emergency medical services professionals to administer controlled substances outside the physical presence of a medical director or authorizing medical professional pursuant to a valid standing or verbal order.
How do narcotics have to be stored in the vehicle?
EMS vehicles storing controlled substances must be locked when parked outside of an enclosed registered or designated location, with the controlled substances stored in a securely locked, substantially constructed cabinet or safe that cannot be readily removed.
Does a hospital-based agency need its own registration?
Hospital-based means owned or operated by a hospital. If you work for a hospital service, the drug box stays on the hospital's paper.
The CSA, as amended by the Act, expressly allows hospital-based EMS agencies to operate under the hospital's registration rather than obtaining their own separate registration.
Can the truck restock controlled substances from a hospital?
the Act allows non-hospital-based EMS agencies to receive controlled substances from a hospital for the purpose of restocking an EMS vehicle following an emergency response.
What does the DEA registration cost an agency?
this rule reflects the current fee of $888 so that, as intended, the fee for EMS registrants is the same as that for other dispensers of controlled substances.
Do municipal and fire-based services pay the fee?
Even if the EMS agency is not operated by a government fire department, if the EMS agency itself is operated by the local government, it would also be exempt from application fees.
When does an existing service have to move to the new registration?
DEA recommends agencies contact their local field office to complete the transition.
The three options for EMS agencies to transition are: (1) transition immediately on the effective date established by DEA; (2) transition at the expiration of their current registration; or (3) transition three to six months prior to their renewal date.
Does Pennsylvania law let a medic push scheduled drugs on standing orders, the way the DEA rule assumes?
Partly supported
Pennsylvania is structurally different from most states here and it changes what a traveller should expect: the standing orders are the Department's Statewide EMS protocols, not a protocol set written by the employing agency's medical director, and the Department publishes the approved drug list by provider level in the Pennsylvania Bulletin under §1027.5(b). The quoted sentence does not use the phrase 'controlled substance', hence partial, but the same section at (e)(6) and (e)(7) imposes DEA Form 106 and disposal duties on the agency for controlled substances, so they are plainly within its scope.
An EMS provider, other than a PHPE, PHRN or PHP, is restricted to administering medications, not previously prescribed for a patient, as permitted by the Statewide EMS protocols.
pacodeandbulletin.gov · State administrative code
Does Pennsylvania require its own controlled-substance registration for EMS agencies?
Partly supported
No Pennsylvania page says 'EMS agencies need no state registration' in those words, so this is assembled from three convergent facts and quote_supports is partial. The Department's programme page scopes registration to 'manufacturing, distributing or retailing drugs' (https://www.pa.gov/agencies/health/business-registration-and-regulation/drugs-devices-and-cosmetics, quote verified 2026-08-13), the quoted FAQ exempts Department-licensed healthcare facilities, and 28 Pa. Code §1027.5(c) has EMS agencies procure and replace medications from a hospital, pharmacy or medical supply company rather than holding stock in their own right. The exempting sentence names practitioners and facilities rather than EMS agencies specifically; a traveller relying on this should confirm with the Drug, Device and Cosmetic Program.
A licensed prescribing practitioner or healthcare facility (licensed issued by Department of State or Health) and his/her business does not need to register with the Department of Health Drug, Device, or Cosmetic program separately
apps.health.pa.gov · State agency
Questions not yet settled from a primary source.
Track the exact date Pennsylvania completes live data exchange with NEMSCD; until then some valid privileges are verifiable only via the Pennsylvania EMS office.
opened 7 Aug 2026 · blocks compact.operationally_connected
How does Pennsylvania classify current, voluntarily inactive, expired, surrendered and revoked licenses for Compact Home State purposes, and what inactive/reactivation options exist? The national Kansas example does not establish these state-specific pathways.
opened 2 Oct 2026 · blocks compact.privilege.home_state_licenses