Mass. Gen. Laws Ch. 111, §§ 51C, 51E, 51F

Section 51C. Each hospital, or other institution, licensed under section fifty-one shall not discriminate against an individual qualified within the scope of his or her license when considering or acting on an application for staff membership or clinical privileges to practice podiatry.

Each application shall be considered solely on the basis of the individual training, current competence, experience, ability, personal character and judgment of the applicant.

Section 51E. When considering and acting on applications of certified clinical specialists in psychiatric and mental health nursing for staff membership and clinical privileges, no by-law, rule, regulation or practice of a health care facility, regulated by chapter one hundred and eleven, shall prohibit a certified clinical specialist in psychiatric and mental health nursing from being granted clinical privileges and appointed to staff membership at such facilities, as defined in section twenty-five B that offer services that can be performed by certified clinical specialists in psychiatric and mental health nursing. Clinical privileges shall be determined on an individual basis and shall be commensurate with an applicant’s education, training and experience as established herein. In implementing these criteria, said facility shall formulate and apply reasonable, nondiscriminatory standards for the evaluation of the credentials of a certified clinical specialist in psychiatric and mental health nursing. As part of its responsibility for the operation of such facility, the governing body, or designated persons so functioning, shall ensure that decisions on clinical privileges and staff membership are based on an objective evaluation of an applicant’s credentials, free of anti-competitive intent or purpose. The credentials committee and other staff who evaluate and determine the qualifications of applicants for clinical privileges and staff membership shall include, whenever possible, certified clinical specialists in psychiatric and mental health nursing.

In determining the qualifications for staff membership or clinical privileges, the facility shall not consider the following factors in its deliberations:

(1)        an applicant’s membership or lack of membership in a professional society or association;

(2)        an applicant’s decision to advertise, reduce fees or engage in other competitive acts intended to generate business;

(3)        an applicant’s participation in prepaid group health plans, salaried employment or any other manner of delivering health services on other than a fee-for-service basis;

(4)        an applicant’s support for, training of or participation in a private group practice with members of a particular classification of health professional;

(5)        an applicant’s willingness to testifying in malpractice suits, disciplinary actions or other proceedings; and

(6)        an applicant’s willingness to send a specified amount of patients or clients who are in need of the services of a facility to a particular facility; provided, however, that this last restriction shall not apply to public facilities or agencies.

Notwithstanding any other provisions of this section, the exercise of privileges in such health care facility may be limited, restricted or revoked for reasons including, but not limited to, the violation of such health care facility’s rules, regulations or procedures which are applied in good faith, in a nondiscriminatory manner, to all practitioners in such health care facilities exercising such privileges or entitled to exercise such privileges.

Section 51F. No hospital, or other institution, licensed under section fifty-one shall discriminate against an individual qualified within the scope of his license when considering or acting on an application of a licensed independent clinical social worker for staff membership or clinical privileges. Each application shall be considered solely on the basis of individual education, training, current competence and experience. Each hospital shall establish, in consultation with the director of social service or, if none, a consulting licensed independent clinical social worker, the specific standards, criteria and procedures to admit applicants for staff membership and clinical privileges.