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Medical Professional Liability State Profile:

Massachusetts

PRA New Business Paper
#13 ProAssurance State Rank
#9 Market Rank
$421,563,050 Size of MPL Market

CME Requirements

Credit amount
As of January 1, 2018, Massachusetts requires 50 hours of CME credits per license renewal cycle.

Licensure cycle
Biennial—beginning on the date the license was issued or renewed.

Topics
All credits must be either Category 1 or Category 2 CME with the following topical requirements: two hours of end-of-life care CME (one-time requirement); three hours of opioid and pain management CME for physicians who prescribe controlled substances; 10 hours of risk management CME; three hours of electronic health records (EHR) CME (one-time requirement); Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (one-time requirement), two hours of Implicit Bias in Healthcare, two hours of CME credits per chapter for reading the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine’s Regulations, 243 CMR 1.00-3.00.

CME requirements listed above were updated based on information from the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine (BORIM), but education requirements do change. Due to COVID-19, certain states may have modified their licensure requirements. Physicians should confirm Massachusetts’s current requirements provided by the BORIM.

 

Physician Market Comparison

Massachusetts = $99,065,217
About the same as North Carolina ($100,361,463)
Texas is about twice the size ($195,739,891)
Louisiana is about half the size ($50,493,069)

Region

Northeast

New Business Paper

ProAssurance

Tort Laws

Limits on damages for pain and suffering: $500,000 cap on non-economic damages (exceptions)
  • Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 231, § 60H
Limits on contingent attorney fees: Sliding scale
  • Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 231, § 60I
Reform of collateral source rule: Mandatory – Bans subrogation
  • Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 231, § 60G
Periodic payment of future damages: None
Statute of limitations: Three years; exceptions with seven-year maximum
  • Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 260, § 4

Prejudgment and Post-Judgment Interest

Prejudgment Tort Actions Rate: 12%; no interest permitted against the Commonwealth
  • Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 231, § 6B; see Greene v. Philip Morris USA, Inc., 491 Mass. 866 (2023) (affirming the use of a 12% interest rate despite the arguable windfall); Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 258, § 2
Prejudgment Accrual Date: Commencement of the action
  • Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 231, § 6B
Post-Judgment Tort Actions Rate: Same rate as provided for prejudgment interest
  • Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 235, § 8; see Greene
Post-Judgment Accrual Date: Time judgment entered  
  • Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 235, § 8; see Greene

One-Party or Two-Party State

Massachusetts is a two-party state.

In Massachusetts, it is a criminal offense to use any device to record and/or disseminate communications, whether wire, oral, or electronic, without the consent of all contributing parties. Mass. Gen. Laws Ann. ch. 272, § 99C.

Abortion Law

Abortion remains legal in Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Supreme Court has recognized the right to abortion under the state’s constitution. In 2021, Massachusetts passed comprehensive abortion rights legislation.