CE courses aren't cheap. Most accredited providers charge $15–$40 per credit hour, and most employers either don't reimburse at all or cap it well below what you actually need. If you're paying out of pocket for 20+ hours every renewal cycle, that adds up fast.
But there's a growing model in healthcare that's making accredited CE courses available at no cost to professionals — and it's worth understanding how it works.
How Sponsored CE Works
Continuing education sponsorship isn't new. Hospitals have hosted in-service trainings funded by partner organizations for decades. Medical conferences offer CME sessions underwritten by industry sponsors. The idea that a healthcare organization would fund professional development for clinicians in their community is one of the oldest relationships in the industry.
What's changing is how that sponsorship gets delivered. Instead of requiring you to attend a lunch meeting at a specific time and place, sponsored CE is moving online — accredited courses you can complete on your own schedule, from your phone or laptop, at no cost to you.
Pulse is built around this model. Healthcare organizations — hospice agencies, home health providers, rehabilitation companies — use Pulse to offer accredited CE courses to the nurses, social workers, and case managers in their communities. The organization covers the cost of the course. You get the CE hours.
There's no trial period, no credit card required, and no subscription that quietly starts billing you. The courses are accredited, the certificates are real, and the hours count toward your license renewal.
What's the Accreditation?
This is the only question that actually matters when evaluating any CE source — free or paid.
Courses distributed through Pulse are provided by HIS Cornerstone, a nationally accredited continuing education provider. Here's what that means for your license:
| Discipline | Accrediting Body | Accepted |
|---|---|---|
| Nursing (RN, LPN) | ANCC | All 50 states |
| Social Work (MSW, LCSW) | ASWB / ACE | All 50 states |
| Case Management (CCM) | CCMC / ACMA | National |
| Physical Therapy | TBPTE | Texas + reciprocity states |
| Occupational Therapy | TOTA | Texas + reciprocity states |
| Speech-Language Pathology | TSHA | Texas + reciprocity states |
ANCC accreditation is the standard your board of nursing recognizes. If a course has it, it counts. Period. You can verify the full accreditation details on the Pulse accreditation page.
What Courses Are Available?
The catalog covers clinical and professional topics that apply across most practice settings:
- Ethics in healthcare — professional boundaries, informed consent, end-of-life decision making
- Palliative and hospice care — symptom management, family communication, interdisciplinary approaches
- Mental and behavioral health — PTSD, anxiety and depression screening, trauma-informed care
- Chronic disease management — diabetes, heart failure, COPD
- Cultural competency — health equity, implicit bias, serving diverse populations
- Pain management — non-pharmacological approaches, opioid safety, multimodal strategies
All courses are self-paced and 100% online. Most can be completed in one to two hours. New topics are added regularly — if you need something specific, you can request it through the platform and get matched with the right course.
How It Works
- Sign up at pulsereferrals.com — name, email, and discipline. That's it.
- Access your courses — browse what's available or receive a course directly from a healthcare rep in your area.
- Complete the course on HIS Cornerstone — you'll get a direct link and access code. Finish at your own pace.
- Download your certificate — issued immediately after you pass the post-test. Your hours are logged.
You can also receive courses without creating an account. If a healthcare representative sends you a CE through Pulse, you'll get an email with everything you need to access the course directly.
Is This Actually Free?
Yes. The healthcare organization sponsoring the course pays for it. You don't.
This is the same model behind sponsored grand rounds, funded in-services, and underwritten conference sessions — just delivered in a more convenient format. The sponsoring organization gets to introduce themselves to healthcare professionals in their community by offering something genuinely useful. You get accredited CE hours at no cost.
You're never asked to buy anything, sit through a sales presentation, or commit to a meeting. Complete the course, get your certificate, and move on.
Working With Your Colleagues
If you work on a multidisciplinary team, many of these courses are dual-accredited across nursing, social work, and case management. One course can serve multiple team members working toward different credentials.
If you find a course useful, your colleagues can sign up for Pulse and access the same catalog. The more professionals in an area who are on the platform, the more healthcare organizations are willing to sponsor courses there — which means more free CE for everyone.
Get Started
Your renewal deadline is coming regardless. Getting a portion of your hours covered at no cost means less money out of pocket and more flexibility to focus your CE budget on specialty topics you're passionate about.
Sign up for Pulse and access your first free course in under a minute.
Courses distributed through Pulse are provided by HIS Cornerstone, a nationally accredited continuing education provider. Visit our accreditation page for full details on approvals and state recognition.