Free or Low-Cost Continuing Education: A Guide to Getting Reimbursed as a Health Provider
This article is for general educational purposes only. It is not tax, legal, or financial advice, and it isn't a guarantee that any specific employer, insurer, or program will cover training costs. Rules vary by employer, state, and individual circumstances, so check with your HR department, a tax professional, or your state licensing board before making decisions based on what you read here.
Cost of certifications and training is often what keeps qualified providers from continuing education that would genuinely help their work. Whether you're a doula, nurse, social worker, counselor, psychologist, lactation consultant (IBCLC), physician, health coach, or therapist, there's usually more funding available for continuing education than you might think. Employees rarely ask whether their employer has a budget for it, and self-employed providers rarely raise it with their accountant, so most end up paying full price for training without needing to.
This applies broadly, from routine license renewal hours to specialty certifications like FamilyWell Academy's Perinatal Behavioral Health Coaching Certification (PBH-C) and Menopause Behavioral Health Certification (MBH-C).
Three paths are worth exploring: getting an employer to sponsor or reimburse the cost, finding grants or association funding tied to your profession, and deducting the expense as a business cost if you're self-employed. Here's how each one works, along with the steps to try first.
Path 1: Ask your employer first
If you work for a practice, hospital, university, for-profit company, or health system, start here before spending a dollar of your own money. Two things make this worth pursuing.
First, under Section 127 of the Internal Revenue Code, employers can provide up to $5,250 per employee per year in tax-free educational assistance. That amount isn't counted as income for you, and it's typically a deductible business expense for your employer, so the incentive runs in both directions.
Second, most employees never use this benefit even when it exists. Employer tuition assistance is now offered by nearly half of U.S. employers, yet only about one in four interested employees ever start the application, often because they assume it only applies to college degrees rather than certifications or CE courses.
Here's a simple sequence to follow before you enroll:
Find the policy. Check your employee handbook or benefits portal for "tuition assistance," "professional development," or "CE stipend." If nothing turns up, ask HR directly whether an informal budget exists.
Confirm certifications and CE courses count. Some programs are written broadly enough to cover specialty certifications, workshops, and CE bundles, not just degree programs. Sometimes, accreditation of the programs makes a difference. Ask specifically, since the wording of a policy sometimes limits it more than the practice actually intends.
Get pre-approval in writing. Many reimbursement programs require sign-off before you register, not after you've already paid.
Make the case in terms of the practice, not just yourself. New training usually means new capability for the clinic or organization: a perinatal mental health credential means a practice can screen for mood disorders during pregnancy and postpartum without referring out; a menopause-focused certification means addressing the mental health side of a life stage most visits don't have time for. Framing it around a capability gap is a stronger pitch than "I want to learn something new," even if that's also true.
Submit documentation promptly. Save your enrollment confirmation, invoice, and completion certificate with the hours listed, since most programs require these for reimbursement.
Path 2: Look for grants and association funding
If your employer doesn't have a formal program, or you're not eligible, professional associations are worth checking before assuming you're on your own for the full cost.
Doulas and birth workers. A growing number of states now fund doula training directly, tie CE requirements to Medicaid reimbursement eligibility, or require private insurers to cover doula services, which raises the practical value of holding a recognized credential. According to the Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center, Missouri, New Jersey, and Washington have all put state funding toward doula training, workforce collaboratives, or Medicaid billing support in recent years, and several more states have coverage expansions in progress. Coverage and funding vary a lot by state, so it's worth a direct search for your own state's Medicaid or health department page rather than assuming a national standard applies.
Community health workers. More than half of state Medicaid programs now have some form of coverage or payment policy for CHW services, according to the Milbank Memorial Fund, and many states run CHW certification programs with training funded through Medicaid state plan amendments or HRSA grants. The National Academy for State Health Policy tracks certification, training, and Medicaid reimbursement approaches state by state, which is a good place to check what applies where you work.
Counselors. The NBCC Foundation, through its affiliate the Center for Credentialing & Education, offers professional training awards to counselors pursuing additional credentials, not just scholarships for students still in school. State counseling associations and the American Counseling Association also periodically offer free or discounted CE webinars for members, which can offset part of an annual CE budget even when a full grant isn't available.
Social workers. The NASW Foundation offers scholarships and chapter-level funds, some specifically for members working in health and mental health settings.
Nurses. Many state nursing associations offer CE grants in the $500 to $2,000 range for specialty training, and the HRSA Bureau of Health Workforce runs dozens of active workforce development grant programs.
Lactation consultants, dietitians, and other allied health providers. Similar member benefits often exist but get filed under an unglamorous label like "professional development fund" rather than "scholarship," which is part of why people miss them. A quick search of your association's member portal is usually enough to find out.
Physicians. Physicians are often further along on this path than they realize, since many employers already build a CME allowance into compensation. The average CME stipend for physicians was about $4,073 a year as of the most recent industry survey, though the amount, what it covers, and whether it rolls over all depend on the employer's specific policy. Some CME allowances are written narrowly around AMA PRA Category 1 Credit™, so it's worth confirming eligibility before assuming a program qualifies; FamilyWell Academy's certifications are accredited for AMA PRA Category 1 Credit, which should simplify that step for physicians using an employer stipend toward them. Physicians in private practice can generally treat CME costs as a deductible business expense under the same Schedule C rules described below.
None of this is guaranteed money, and eligibility criteria shift year to year. It's worth ten minutes of searching before writing the check yourself.
Path 3: If you're self-employed, this may be a business write-off
If you run your own coaching, doula, counseling, or therapy practice, the tax code treats continuing education differently than it does for employees. Per IRS Topic 513, education expenses are deductible when they maintain or improve skills needed in your current work, or when they're required by law to keep your current status. Education that qualifies you for a new trade or business generally does not meet this bar.
Self-employed providers typically deduct these costs on Schedule C, rather than the personal itemized deductions available before 2018. That distinction matters because most W-2 employees lost the ability to deduct unreimbursed education expenses after the 2017 tax law changes, which is exactly why the employer conversation in Path 1 matters so much for people who aren't self-employed.
For someone already working as a doula, coach, therapist, or clinician who's adding related skills within their existing scope of practice, whether that's a specialty certification, a workshop series, or ongoing CE hours, this generally fits the kind of education the IRS allows as a deduction. It isn't automatic, and the details depend on your business structure and how the IRS views your current line of work versus a new one. A conversation with a CPA or tax preparer is worth the time here, not a step to skip.
If you go this route, a simple system works fine:
Keep the enrollment receipt and invoice.
Save the certificate of completion and course description.
Note, in a sentence or two, how the training relates to your current work.
Store everything in a folder labeled by tax year, digital or physical, so it's ready if you're ever asked to show it.
Bringing it together
A quick way to decide where to start:
W-2 employee? Ask about your employer's professional development budget or tuition assistance program first.
Self-employed? Talk to your accountant about deducting the cost as a business expense on Schedule C.
Either way? Spend a few minutes checking your state association, licensing board, or Medicaid program's website for grants or CE funds tied to your profession.
A real gap in a provider's skill set shouldn't go unaddressed because of cost. Most providers have more funding routes available than they assume; the main obstacle is asking.
If you're exploring specialty training in perinatal or menopause behavioral health specifically, FamilyWell Academy's certification programs are one option worth applying this guide to.
Disclaimer:, this is general information, not individualized advice. Your tax situation, employer policies, and state programs can all differ from what's described here. When in doubt, ask your HR department or a licensed tax professional.
References
Bureau of Health Workforce. (2026). Apply for a health workforce grant. Health Resources and Services Administration.https://bhw.hrsa.gov/funding/apply-health-workforce-grant
BestColleges. (2026, March 10). Top 40 companies offering tuition reimbursement. https://www.bestcolleges.com/resources/companies-with-tuition-reimbursement/
BoardVitals. (2026, February 26). What are the best ways to use your 2026 CME money? https://www.boardvitals.com/blog/how-to-use-your-cme-money/
Internal Revenue Service. (2026, May 20). Topic no. 513, Work-related education expenses. https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc513
Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). Employer-offered educational assistance programs can help pay for college. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/employer-offered-educational-assistance-programs-can-help-pay-for-college
Milbank Memorial Fund. (2025, November 20). Medicaid reimbursement for community health worker services: Model state plan amendment & other guidance. https://www.milbank.org/publications/medicaid-reimbursement-for-community-health-worker-services-model-state-plan-amendment-other-guidance-november-2025-update/
NASW Foundation. (n.d.). Scholarships, fellowships, and awards. National Association of Social Workers Foundation. https://www.naswfoundation.org/our-work/scholarships-fellowships-awards/scholarships
National Academy for State Health Policy. (2025, September 29). State community health worker policies. https://nashp.org/state-tracker/state-community-health-worker-policies/
NBCC Foundation. (n.d.). Scholarships. National Board for Certified Counselors Foundation. https://www.nbccf.org/programs/scholarships
Prenatal-to-3 Policy Impact Center. (2026, April 7). State approaches to supporting the community-based doula workforce. https://pn3policy.org/state-approaches-to-supporting-the-community-based-doula-workforce/
PubScholars. (2026, May 8). Nursing grants & scholarships 2026: Complete guide to funding. https://pubscholars.org/blog/nursing-grants-scholarships-2026/
