§ 23-16-18 — Maintenance of certification

1. As used in this section:
a. "Continuing medical education" means continued postgraduate medical
education required by the North Dakota board of medicine intended to educate
medical professionals about new developments in the medical field.
b. "Maintenance of certification" means a process requiring periodic recertification
examinations or other activities to maintain specialty medical board certification.
Recertification may be provided by a medical professional organization, such as
one or more of the medical specialty boards of the American board of medical
specialties, the American osteopathic association, the national board of
physicians and surgeons, or any other board a credentialing entity recognizes.
c. "Physician" means a physician licensed under chapter 43-17.
d. "Specialty medical board certification" means certification by a board specializing
in one particular area of medicine and having requirements in addition to those
the North Dakota board of medicine requires to practice medicine.
2. Except as provided in subsection 5, a physician may not be denied staff privileges or
employment by a facility licensed under this chapter based solely on the physician's
decision to not participate in maintenance of certification.
3. This section does not prevent a facility's credentialing committee from requiring a
physician meet continuing medical education requirements as set by the physician's
licensing board.
4. This section does not prohibit a facility licensed under this chapter from requiring a
physician to undergo remedial or corrective courses or training as may be required by
a quality improvement committee.
5. A facility licensed under this chapter may differentiate between physicians based on a
physician's maintenance of certification if:
a. The facility's designation, certification, or accreditation is contingent on the facility
requiring a specific maintenance of certification by physicians seeking staff
privileges or credentialing at the facility and the differentiation is limited to those
physicians whose maintenance of certification is required for the facility's
designation, certification, or accreditation; or
b. The voting physician members of the facility's organized medical staff vote to
authorize the differentiation and the facility's governing body approves the vote.
(1) The facility may establish terms applicable to the facility's differentiation,
including appropriate grandfathering provisions, and allowing the
differentiation to be rescinded at any time by a vote of the voting physician
members of the facility's organized medical staff.
(2) This section may not be construed to require a new vote by the facility's
medical staff.
(3) Notwithstanding paragraph 2, this section may not be construed to abrogate
or supersede the ability of an organized medical staff and governing board
of an individual facility to determine the facility's credentialing and privileging
criteria with respect to board certification and the maintenance of
certification requirements.
6. A facility licensed under this chapter may not consider maintenance of certification
participation or status as a standard of care consideration in the course of a quality
improvement assessment.