2023 Massachusetts General Laws › Part I - Administration of the Government › Title XVI - Public Health › Chapter 112 - Registration of Certain Professions and Occupations › Section 2 - Registration of Physicians; Alien Applicants; Examinations; Renewal; Required Professional Malpractice Liability Insurance; Fees; Continuing Education Relating to Diagnosis, Treatment and Care of Patients With Cognitive Impairments

Section 2. Applications for registration as qualified physicians, signed and sworn to by the applicants, shall be made upon blanks furnished by the board of registration in medicine, herein and in sections three to nine A, inclusive, called the board. Each applicant who shall furnish the board with satisfactory proof that he is eighteen years of age or over and of good moral character, that he has completed two years of premedical studies in a college or university, that he has attended courses of instruction for four years of not less than thirty-two school weeks in each year, or courses which in the opinion of the board are equivalent thereto, in one or more legally chartered medical schools, and that he has received the degree of doctor of medicine, or its equivalent, from a legally chartered medical school in the United States or commonwealth of Puerto Rico or Canada having the power to confer degrees in medicine, shall upon payment of a fee to be determined annually by the commissioner of administration under the provision of section three B of chapter seven, be examined, and, if found qualified by the board, be registered as a qualified physician and entitled to a certificate in testimony thereof, signed by the chairman and secretary. The board shall require, as a standard of eligibility for licensure, that applicants demonstrate proficiency in the use of computerized physician order entry, e-prescribing, electronic health records and other forms of health information technology, as determined by the board. As used in this section, proficiency, at a minimum shall mean that applicants demonstrate the skills to comply with the ''meaningful use'' requirements, as set forth in 45 C.F.R. Part 170. An applicant who has received from a medical school, legally chartered in a sovereign state other than the United States, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico or Canada, a degree of doctor of medicine or its equivalent shall be required to furnish to the board such documentary evidence as the board may require that his education is substantially the equivalent of that of graduates of medical schools in the United States and such other evidence as the board may require as to his qualifications to practice medicine, and shall, unless granted an exemption by the board, be required to present a Standard Certificate granted after examination by the Educational Council for Foreign Medical Graduates; provided, however, that an applicant who shall furnish the board with satisfactory proof that he is eighteen years of age or over and of good moral character, that he has completed two years of premedical studies in a college or university of the United States or Canada shall not be required to possess a certificate by the Educational Council for Foreign Medical Graduates and shall be admitted to the examination for licensure if he has studied medicine in a medical school outside the United States which is recognized by the World Health Organization, has completed all the formal requirements for the degree corresponding to doctor of medicine except internship and social service or internship or social service, has satisfactorily completed one academic year of supervised clinical training sponsored by an approved medical school in the United States or Canada, and has completed one year of graduate medical education in a program approved by the Liaison Committee on Graduate Medical Education of the American Medical Association. If the board shall be satisfied as to his education and his qualifications, the board shall, upon payment of a fee determined under the aforementioned provision by the applicant, admit him to the examination for licensure.
An applicant failing to pass an examination satisfactory to the board shall be entitled to two reexaminations within two years at a meeting of the board called for the examination of applicants upon payment of a further fee determined under the aforementioned provision for each reexamination; but two such reexaminations shall exhaust his privilege under his original application.
The board may without examination grant certificates of registration as qualified physicians to such graduates of medical schools: (1) who shall furnish with their applications satisfactory proof that they have the qualifications required in the commonwealth to entitle them to be examined and have been licensed or registered upon a written examination in another state whose standards, in the opinion of the board, are equivalent to those in the commonwealth, or (2) who are diplomates of specialty boards recognized by the American Medical Association or the American Osteopathic Association; provided that any person who has previously attempted unsuccessfully to secure registration in the commonwealth shall be registered under the provisions of this paragraph without examination only at the discretion of the board. The fee for such registration without examination shall be determined under the aforementioned provision.
Notwithstanding any other provisions of this chapter the board may without examination grant a certificate of registration as a qualified physician to such person as shall furnish with his application satisfactory evidence that he is: (1) a graduate of a Canadian medical school, or a medical school legally chartered in a sovereign state other than the United States or the commonwealth of Puerto Rico, and is licensed by the Medical Council of Canada and by a provincial licensing authority; or (2) is licensed in the commonwealth of Puerto Rico or in the province of Saskatchewan in Canada upon obtaining a grade of seventy-five per cent or better in the federation licensing examination of the federation of state medical boards of the United States. Any person granted a certificate of registration under the provisions of this paragraph shall pay a fee determined under the aforementioned chapter seven provision.
Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the board may without examination grant a certificate of registration as a qualified physician to a person who is a graduate of a medical school which is legally chartered in a sovereign state other than the United States, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico or Canada, if such person furnishes proof satisfactory to the board that: (1) he has a full time academic appointment at a legally chartered medical school in the commonwealth; (2) he is qualified and competent in the field of medicine or surgery; and (3) he has been licensed or registered to practice medicine in such other state or country and has held a faculty appointment at a medical school legally chartered in such other state or country. Application for registration as a qualified physician, signed and sworn to by the applicant under the provisions of this section shall be made upon blanks furnished by the board. If satisfied as to the applicant's qualifications, and upon payment of a fee by such applicant, the board may issue to such applicant a certificate of registration as a qualified physician. Such certificate shall be restricted to the specialty in which he holds his academic appointment and shall be valid only so long as he holds a full time academic appointment. In addition to the requirements for renewal of certificates of registration under the provisions of section two, physicians registered under this section shall furnish with their renewal applications evidence satisfactory to the board that they continue to hold the faculty appointment required by this section. The board may adopt, amend and rescind such rules and regulations as it deems necessary to carry out the provisions of this section.
The board shall require that all physicians registered in the commonwealth renew their certificates of registration with the board at two year intervals. Effective nineteen hundred and eighty-seven, every physician registered in the commonwealth shall renew his or her certificate of registration with the board on or before his or her birthday in nineteen hundred and eighty-seven and in every second year thereafter; provided that if a birthday of any physician who shall be registered hereunder shall occur within three months after original registration, such person need not renew his or her registration until the birthday in the second year following the birthday aforesaid. For the purposes of this section, the birthday of a person born on February twenty-nine shall be deemed to be February twenty-eight. The renewal application shall be accompanied by a fee determined under the aforementioned provision and shall include the physician's name, license number, home address, office address, his or her specialities, the principal setting of his practice, and whether he or she is an active or inactive practitioner.
The board is authorized to promulgate regulations requiring physicians to obtain professional malpractice liability insurance or a suitable bond or other indemnity against liability for professional malpractice in such amounts as may be determined by the board. The board shall participate in any national data reporting system which provides information on individual physicians.
The board shall require as a condition of granting or renewing a physician's certificate of registration, that the physician, who if he agrees to treat a beneficiary of health insurance under Title XVIII of the Social Security Act, shall also agree not to charge to or collect from such beneficiary any amount in excess of the reasonable charge for that service as determined by the United States Secretary of Health and Human Services. The board shall also require, as a condition of granting or renewing a physician's certificate of registration, that the physician apply to participate in the medical assistance program administered by the secretary of health and human services in accordance with chapter 118E and Title XIX of the Social Security Act and any federal demonstration or waiver relating to such medical assistance program for the limited purposes of ordering and referring services covered under such program, provided that regulations governing such limited participation are promulgated under said chapter 118E. A physician who chooses to participate in such medical assistance program as a provider of services shall be deemed to have fulfilled this requirement.
The board shall mail a renewal application to each registered physician sixty days prior to the renewal date. The certification of registration of any physician who does not file a completed renewal application together with the fee shall be automatically revoked, but shall be revived upon completion of the renewal process. The expenses and compensation of the board of registration and discipline in medicine shall be paid by the commonwealth, but said expenses and compensations shall not be in excess of the amounts received by the commonwealth for certificates of renewal or any registration fees under this section.
The board shall require that any continuing education requirements necessary for the renewal of a physician's certificate of registration include the 1–time completion of a course of training and education on the diagnosis, treatment and care of patients with cognitive impairments, including, but not limited to, Alzheimer's disease and dementia; provided, however, that this course requirement shall only apply to physicians who serve adult populations.