MA S1628

Health care practices must be wholly owned and controlled by licensed clinicians with independent practice authority (physicians, nurse practitioners, psychiatric nurse specialists, or nurse anesthetists), or ownership by non-clinicians constitutes unauthorized practice of medicine

Employers, including licensed health care facilities, are prohibited from interfering with clinicians' professional judgment through discipline, threats, or coercion regarding time spent with patients, discharge timing, clinical status decisions, or diagnostic codes entered in medical records

Management services organizations cannot control patient medical records content, hire/fire clinicians based on clinical competency, make final coding/billing decisions, or approve medical equipment selection for practices they serve

Health care practices must file registration applications with the Board of Registration in Medicine or Nursing, provide biennial certifications of compliance, and renew registrations every 2 years

Nondisclosure or non-disparagement agreements restricting clinicians from discussing prohibited employer conduct are void and unenforceable, with courts required to award attorney's fees to prevailing plaintiffs