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An Act Relating To the Licensure of Physicians and Surgeons
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 32 MRSA §2581, as amended by PL 2001, c. 492, §6, is further amended by adding after the 2nd paragraph a new paragraph to read:
Nothing in this chapter may be construed to require an osteopathic physician or surgeon licensed under this chapter to secure a maintenance of certification as a condition of licensure, reimbursement, employment or admitting privileges at a hospital in the State. For the purposes of this section, "maintenance of certification" means a process, subsequent to initial board certification, that requires periodic recertification examinations to maintain specialty medical board certification.
Sec. 2. 32 MRSA §3271, sub-§2, as amended by PL 2013, c. 355, §6, is further amended to read:
 
2. Postgraduate training.   Each applicant who has graduated from an accredited medical school on or after January 1, 1970 but before July 1, 2004 must have satisfactorily completed at least 24 months in a graduate educational program accredited by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education, the Canadian Medical Association or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Notwithstanding other requirements of postgraduate training, an applicant is eligible for licensure when the candidate has satisfactorily graduated from a combined postgraduate training program in which each of the contributing programs is accredited by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education and the applicant is eligible for accreditation by the American Board of Medical Specialties in both specialties. Each applicant who has graduated from an accredited medical school prior to January 1, 1970 must have satisfactorily completed at least 12 months in a graduate educational program accredited by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education, the Canadian Medical Association or the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Each applicant who has graduated from an accredited medical school on or after July 1, 2004 or an unaccredited medical school must have satisfactorily completed at least 36 months in a graduate educational program accredited by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education, the Canadian Medical Association, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada or the Royal Colleges of England, Ireland or Scotland. An applicant who has completed 24 months of postgraduate training and has received an unrestricted endorsement from the director of an accredited graduate education program in the State is considered to have satisfied the postgraduate training requirements of this subsection if the applicant continues in that program and completes 36 months of postgraduate training. Notwithstanding this subsection, an applicant who is board certified by the American Board of Medical Specialties is deemed to meet the postgraduate training requirements of this subsection. Notwithstanding this subsection, in the case of subspecialty or clinical fellowship programs, the board may accept in fulfillment of the requirements of this subsection postgraduate training at a hospital in which the subspecialty clinical program, such as a training program accredited by the American Dental Association Commission on Dental Accreditation or its successor organization, is not accredited but the parent specialty program is accredited by the Accreditation Council on Graduate Medical Education.
 
Nothing in this chapter may be construed to require a physician or surgeon licensed under this chapter to secure a maintenance of certification as a condition of licensure, reimbursement, employment or admitting privileges at a hospital in the State. For the purposes of this subsection, "maintenance of certification" means a process, subsequent to initial board certification, that requires periodic recertification examinations to maintain specialty medical board certification.
 
SUMMARY
This bill specifies that nothing in the chapters of law governing the licensure of physicians may be construed to require a maintenance of certification as a condition of licensure, reimbursement, employment or admitting privileges at a hospital in Maine.