An Act to Combine the Board of Licensure in Medicine and Board of Osteopathic Licensure into a Single Licensing Board for All Physicians and Physician Associates
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Became Law
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
24 provisions identified: 11 benefits, 5 costs, 8 mixed.
Aid for rural family medicine students
Medical students who plan to work in rural family practice in Maine can get financial help. The board may offer interest‑free grants or interest‑bearing loans up to $5,000 per student each year. The board sets the terms. Funds cannot be used for out‑of‑state travel, meals, or lodging for students in the program.
Minors can get STI and SUD care
A minor can receive STI prevention or treatment, substance use disorder treatment, or a forensic sexual assault exam without a parent’s consent. The provider does not have to inform the parent or guardian. The provider may choose to notify a parent or guardian.
Telehealth services allowed with rules
Licensed providers may give telehealth care, including video visits, store‑and‑forward, and remote monitoring. They must follow privacy laws and standards of practice. The board will set technical standards and limits by rule.
Merger protects board employee benefits
Beginning January 1, 2027, employees of the two former boards keep all rights and benefits. Sick leave, vacation, and seniority continue under civil service or bargaining agreements. The Bureau of Human Resources helps manage the transition.
Duty to warn about violent threats
If a licensee reasonably believes a patient may commit serious physical violence, the licensee must warn likely victims, tell law enforcement, or seek involuntary hospitalization. The licensee is not required to take actions that would endanger them or increase the threat. Disclosures made to protect others do not create money liability for breaching confidentiality.
Limits on opioid prescribing and training
Prescribers may not exceed 100 morphine milligram equivalents (MME) per day, with past transitional allowances through July 1, 2017. The law limits supply amounts for acute and chronic pain, with exceptions for cancer, palliative, end‑of‑life, medication‑assisted treatment, and certain facility care. Electronic prescribing is required by July 1, 2017 unless waived. Prescribers must complete 3 hours of opioid education every 2 years. The health department may fine $250 per violation, up to $5,000 per year. Health care entities must have an opioid prescribing policy.
Set pay and fallback for medical board members
Board members receive set yearly pay. Regular members get $1,250. The chair and vice-chair get $1,500 each. The secretary gets $7,500. If annual licensure fees are too low to cover salaries and expenses, members get only a pro rata share that year.
Updated rules for physician licenses in Maine
M.D. applicants must graduate from an approved medical school or show equivalency, complete required training, show recent practice, and pass national exams and a Maine law exam. D.O. grads before 2026-01-01 need at least 12 months of training; grads on or after 2026-01-01 need at least 36 months. Application fees can be up to $700 plus exam costs. The board cannot require specialty board certification or "maintenance of certification" to get or renew a license.
New complaint and discipline process
The board is split into two 11‑member investigative committees with a set mix of M.D.s, D.O.s, PAs, and public members. The board must tell a licensee about a complaint within 60 days, and the licensee must respond within 30 days. Panels for hearings need at least five members and one peer; anyone who investigated the case cannot sit on the hearing panel. The board can order emergency exams, seek court injunctions, dismiss cases, accept surrenders, issue public letters of guidance kept up to 10 years, and enter enforceable consent agreements. Grounds for discipline include fraud, substance misuse, incompetence, improper prescribing, and advertising or providing conversion therapy to minors. Cases open on January 1, 2027 move to the new committees, and prior participation on an old board is not a reason to challenge a committee member.
Doctors must post Medicare billing policy
If you have Medicare, your licensed provider must post whether they accept Medicare assignment and who to contact about it. Boards may fine violations $100 to $1,000 each.
Stronger rules for contact lenses and eyewear
After a proper fitting and release from follow‑up care, you can get your contact lens prescription for free on request. It must include needed details and an expiration date no more than 24 months out. Mail‑order sellers must be licensed and keep files for 5 years; improper or expired fills can be fined $250 to $1,000. Doctors may not issue eyewear prescriptions based only on kiosk measurements; an eye exam is required.
Physician associate practice rules
A physician associate may perform medical services they are trained and competent to do. With fewer than 4,000 clinical hours, a PA must work under a collaborative agreement and give it to the board. After documenting 4,000 hours, no collaborative agreement is required. Dispensing drugs by PAs is allowed only when a pharmacy is not reasonably available, it is in the patient’s best interest, or in an emergency, and all laws must be followed.
Protections for partner therapy and hearings
Licensed providers are protected from discipline when they give expedited partner therapy allowed by public health law. Any nonconsensual license revocation must follow a proper hearing, and court review is only in Superior Court.
Protections for peer review and records
Peer review proceedings and records are confidential and generally not discoverable when required by law, accreditation, or a professional society. Sharing information with the board does not waive those protections. Clinicians serving on qualifying review committees have civil immunity for actions within the committee’s scope. The board must remove private details before releasing applicant or licensee records and must notify the person; this does not apply to certain government requests listed in the law.
Unlicensed medical practice is a crime
Practicing medicine in Maine without a license or board‑granted privilege is a Class E crime. It is a strict liability offense. This protects patients and public safety.
Fingerprints and background checks for licenses
For an initial PA license or an initial PA compact privilege in Maine, the board runs Maine and FBI checks. You must be fingerprinted and pay the fingerprint fee; results are confidential. Physicians applying for an expedited Maine license through the Interstate Medical Licensure Compact must also be fingerprinted and pay the fee. Those results stay confidential and are not sent to the Compact Commission.
License renewals every two years with CME
Physician and physician associate licenses renew every two years in your birth month, tied to odd or even birth years. The board must notify you at least 60 days before expiration. To stay active, you must show CME completed in the last 24 months. Renewal fees can be up to $600.
PA licensing rules and fee limits
To get a physician associate license, you must finish a board-approved program, pass the national exam, show recent clinical work or a plan, have no active discipline, and meet any board exam. The first application fee is capped at $400. Renewals every two years are capped at $350. Compact privilege fees cannot exceed these limits.
Short-term physician licenses and fees
Several short-term options are available. A general temporary license lasts up to one year and costs no more than $400. Youth camp and emergency 100‑day licenses are capped at $400; the 100‑day license requires an active, unconditioned license from another U.S. jurisdiction. Temporary educational certificates and visiting instructor authorizations are each capped at $300.
Funding to launch the unified medical board
The state provides $1.415 million in fiscal 2026–27 to staff the new board (14.5 positions). It funds two Assistant Attorneys General and related costs with $558,387, and reimburses legal costs with another $558,387. A one‑time $200,000 covers merger transition and implementation. $17,125 pays commission board members. Funds come from Other Special Revenue Funds.
Reinstate or pause your license
You can reinstate a lapsed license by paying all past fees, the current renewal fee, and a nonrefundable $100 processing fee. If the lapse is over five years, you must apply as a new licensee. The board may require proof of current clinical skill. You may also withdraw your license and stop paying future fees, but the license is invalid until reinstated. Or choose inactive status, keep renewing and paying the renewal fee, and you cannot practice; CME and law exams are not required while inactive unless you return to active status.
Clinicians can delegate routine tasks
A physician or physician associate may assign routine tasks that do not require a license to trained staff. The delegating clinician must keep control and ensure staff are competent. The clinician stays legally responsible for delegated work. This does not change nurse or PA authorities in other laws.
One board for Maine physicians
Beginning January 1, 2027, the Maine Board of Medicine replaces the two old boards. All active licenses move to the new board and stay valid until they expire. The new board holds all powers to license, set fees, and adopt rules. All money, assets, records, and contracts of the old boards transfer, and old rules stay in place until changed. All state law references to the old boards now mean the Maine Board of Medicine. The law also repeals the old statutory sections and chapters tied to the former boards.
Who serves on the new board
The board has 22 members: six M.D.s, six D.O.s, four physician associates, and six public members. Members must live in Maine; clinicians need five years of recent Maine practice; public members have no medical ties. Members serve five-year terms, cannot be reappointed after 10 total years, and may be removed for cause. Sitting members carry over on January 1, 2027. The first meeting is January 12, 2027, with officers serving until July 13, 2027. The board holds at least two regular meetings each year and, starting March 1, 2028, must send the Legislature an annual report on complaints and discipline.
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Sponsors & Cosponsors
Sponsors
There is no primary sponsor on record.
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
Actions Timeline
ACTPUB Chapter 738
5/4/2026PASSED TO BE ENACTED, in concurrence.
4/13/2026SenatePASSED TO BE ENACTED. Sent for concurrence. ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH.
4/13/2026HouseThe House RECEDED and CONCURRED to PASSAGE TO BE ENGROSSED as Amended by Committee Amendment "A" (H-1025) as Amended by Senate Amendment "A" (S-659) thereto.ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH.
4/13/2026HouseReport READ and ACCEPTED. READ ONCE Committee Amendment "A" (H-1025) READ. On motion by Senator BAILEY of York Senate Amendment "A" (S-659) to Committee Amendment "A" (H-1025) READ and ADOPTED Committee Amendment "A" (H-1025) as Amended by Senate Amendment "A" (S-659) thereto ADOPTED. Under suspension of the Rules, READ A SECOND TIME and PASSED TO BE ENGROSSED AS AMENDED by Committee Amendment "A" (H-1025) as Amended by Senate Amendment "A" (S-659) thereto In NON-CONCURRENCE Sent down for concurrence
4/13/2026SenateCONSENT CALENDAR - FIRST DAYUnder suspension of the rules CONSENT CALENDAR - SECOND DAY.The Bill was PASSED TO BE ENGROSSED as Amended by Committee Amendment "A" (H-1025).Sent for concurrence. ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH.
4/8/2026HouseReport READ and ACCEPTED, in concurrence.Bill and accompanying papers REFERRED to the Committee on HEALTH COVERAGE, INSURANCE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES, in concurrence.
3/17/2026SenateRepresentative MATHIESON for the Joint Standing Committee on Health Coverage, Insurance and Financial Services pursuant to Joint Order 2025, H.P. 1486 reports that the Bill be REFERRED to the Committee on HEALTH COVERAGE, INSURANCE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES and printed pursuant to Joint Rule 218.Report was READ and ACCEPTED.The Bill was REFERRED to the Committee on HEALTH COVERAGE, INSURANCE AND FINANCIAL SERVICES.Sent for concurrence. ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH.
3/12/2026House
Bill Text
Enacted
Engrossed
Introduced
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