Pennsylvania

Only physicians registered with the Pennsylvania Department of Health are authorized to certify patients for the Medical Marijuana Program. Eligible practitioners are:

• Medical Doctors (MD) with an active, unrestricted license to practice medicine in Pennsylvania
• Doctors of Osteopathic Medicine (DO) with an active, unrestricted license to practice medicine in Pennsylvania
• A bona fide practitioner-patient relationship must be established before certification. This means the practitioner has reviewed the patient's medical history and confirmed a qualifying serious medical condition.
• A practitioner may not issue a certification for their own use or for the use of a family or household member, and may not serve as a designated caregiver for a patient they have certified.

Note: Pennsylvania restricts practitioner eligibility to MDs and DOs. Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs), Physician Assistants (PAs), and other advanced practice providers are not authorized to certify patients as of this writing.

Practitioners must register with the Department of Health before certifying patients. Follow these steps:

Step 1: Create a profile in the Department of Health Practitioner Registry. Enter your Pennsylvania medical license information for validation.

Step 2: Following validation of your license, you will receive an email with instructions to complete the required initial education course. The process from registration to receipt of the approval email may take up to two months.

Step 3: Complete the required initial education course from a DOH-approved provider (see Initial Education Requirement below).

Step 4: Once the DOH approves your registration, you will be permitted to certify patients, and your name will appear on the DOH Approved Practitioners list.

Additional resources are available at pa.gov/agencies/health/programs/medical-marijuana/physicians. Practitioners may charge patients a fee for certification encounters. Fees are set by individual practitioners and are not regulated by the DOH.

Initial Education Requirement

Practitioners must complete a DOH-approved four-hour training course before certifying their first patient. The training covers:

• The provisions of the Medical Marijuana Act and implementing regulations relevant to practitioner responsibilities
• General information about medical cannabis under federal and state law
• The latest scientific research on the endocannabinoid system and medical cannabis, including risks and benefits
• Recommendations for medical cannabis in the areas of pain management (including opioid use in conjunction with cannabis), risk management (including drug interactions, side effects, and potential for misuse), palliative care, and obtaining informed consent
• Use of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program
• Best practices for recommending product form and dosage based on the patient's serious medical condition and the practitioner's specialty and training

Practitioners receive information about approved training providers and course-completion instructions via email after license validation. Successful completion qualifies for continuing education credit with the State Board of Medicine, the State Board of Osteopathic Medicine, the State Board of Pharmacy, and the State Board of Nursing.

Refer to the Practitioner Certification Aid for step-by-step guidance.

Pennsylvania designates eligible conditions as "serious medical conditions". The 24 currently approved qualifying conditions are:

• Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
• Anxiety disorders
• Autism
• Cancer, including remission therapy
• Chronic Hepatitis C
• Crohn's disease
• Damage to the nervous tissue of the central nervous system (brain-spinal cord) with objective neurological indication of intractable spasticity, and other associated neuropathies
• Dyskinetic and spastic movement disorders
• Epilepsy
• Glaucoma
• HIV/AIDS
• Huntington's disease
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Intractable seizures
• Multiple sclerosis
• Neurodegenerative diseases
• Neuropathies
• Opioid use disorder for which conventional therapeutic interventions are contraindicated or ineffective, or for which adjunctive therapy is indicated in combination with primary therapeutic interventions
• Parkinson's disease
• Post-traumatic stress disorder
• Severe chronic or intractable pain of neuropathic origin or severe chronic or intractable pain
• Sickle cell anemia
• Terminal illness
• Tourette syndrome

The Medical Marijuana Advisory Board reviews petitions to add new qualifying conditions. Two conditions are currently approved for Chapter 20 research purposes only: Moderate to Severe Traumatic Brain Injury with Chronic Symptoms and Type II Diabetes Mellitus. These do not qualify patients for standard program access.

Step 1: Evaluate the patient.

Confirm the patient has one or more qualifying serious medical conditions and establish a bona fide practitioner-patient relationship by reviewing the patient's medical history and current medical condition. 

Step 2: Complete the certification.

The certification must document that you have reviewed the patient's medical history, established a bona fide practitioner-patient relationship, confirmed a qualifying serious medical condition, and that you believe the patient is likely to receive therapeutic or palliative benefit from medical cannabis use. Certifications are entered electronically into the DOH patient registry. A practitioner may specify a treatment period of less than one year; certifications are valid for up to one year.

Step 3: Maintain records. Document the evaluation, qualifying condition determination, PDMP review, and issuance of the certification in the patient's medical record consistent with your licensing board's documentation standards.

Practitioners must select at least one serious medical condition per patient certification and may select up to 10. Review of the Prescription Drug Monitoring Program (PDMP) is required before issuing or modifying a patient certification under 28 Pa. Code § 1181a.30.

Refer to the Practitioner Certification Aid for step-by-step guidance on the registry submission process.

Patient certifications expire annually. Patients must obtain a new certification from a DOH-registered practitioner each year to renew their ID card.

• A new clinical evaluation is not mandated at each recertification, but practitioners must maintain an active practitioner-patient relationship and verify that the qualifying condition persists.
• Telehealth is available for recertification encounters. (Confirm current status before scheduling.)
• Patients are not required to return to the same practitioner for recertification.

Medical professionals have a legal right to recommend cannabis as a treatment in any state, as protected by the Medical Marijuana and Cannabidiol Research Expansion Act (Title III section 301) which became law on December 2, 2022, and the First Amendment (established by a 2004 United States Supreme Court decision to uphold earlier federal court rulings that doctors, and their patients have a fundamental Constitutional right to freely discuss treatment options).

DOWNLOAD MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS, MEDICAL CANNABIS & THE LAW