“SECTION 9. Chapter 112 of the General Laws is hereby amended by adding the following section:
Section 264. The board of registration in medicine, the board of registration in nursing, the board of registration of physician assistants, the board of nursing home administrators, the board of registration of social workers, the board of registration of psychologists and the board of registration of allied mental health and human services professions shall develop and administer standards for licensure, registration or certification pursuant to this chapter, as applicable, and any renewal thereof, that require training and education on the issue of domestic violence and sexual violence, including, but not limited to, the common physiological and psychological symptoms of domestic violence and sexual violence, the physiological and psychological effects of domestic violence and sexual violence on victims, including children who witness such abuse, the challenges of domestic violence and sexual violence victims who are gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, low-income, minority, immigrant or non-English speaking, availability of rape and sexual assault shelter and support services within the commonwealth.
Training shall also address the pathology of offenders including, but not limited to, identifying the system of abusive behaviors used to maintain control, the intentionality of the violence, the tendency to minimize abuse and blame the victim and the risk to the victim created by joint counseling.
Each board may work with community-based domestic violence, rape and sexual assault service providers and certified batterer’s intervention programs in order to develop the standards required by this section.
Each board shall: (i) promulgate rules and regulations establishing the standards required by this section; and (ii) identify programs or courses of study which meet these standards and the promulgated rules or regulations.
Each board shall provide a list of the identified programs or courses of study to an applicant for licensure, registration or certification, or renewal thereof.”
Implementation Process for Chapter 260
Why is DPH managing Chapter 260 instead of the licensing boards?
Does DPH oversee the Boards of Medicine, Nursing and Social Work?
Who decides when providers need to be compliant with the law?
Deadline for Compliance
When do providers need to be compliant with the Chapter 260 training requirement?
When are the different providers expected to be in compliance with the training requirements?
DPH’s Online Training Option to Fulfill the Chapter 260 Requirement
We've been waiting for an online training for health care providers. When is this going to be released? Who is developing it? Are programs being asked to review/weigh in about it?
Will the online training that DPH is planning come with CEs/CMEs?
The extensive training requirements are unrealistic to provide in-person for all health care providers mandated under Chapter 260 - especially physicians who cannot be released from clinical care for the 4-6 hours needed to cover all of this content. Can providers or specific Boards request exemptions from the in-person trainings and wait for the online course to be released?
Why can't doctors complete the online CME course at Mass Medical Society? Doesn't that count toward fulfilling the Chapter 260 requirement?
Training Application
Is there an opportunity to comment on the content of the training requirements?
Why does the training application include “sexual violence assessment” when this is a not a “best practice” for all health care providers and potentially causes harm to survivors?
When was the public comment period for this application?
When are the different providers expected to be in compliance with the training requirements? What is the application deadline?
Who is evaluating the applications?
Who will review the training materials if there are revisions? What is the expected timeframe for review of changes to already approved materials?
What is the process and criteria being used to review existing and revised materials?
In-Person Training Concept and Content
What is DPH’s goal in providing in-person training, instead of offering an online, web-based course?
Why is this content such a broad brush? It doesn’t make any sense to cover all of that content in an in-person training session, and doesn’t allow for deeper discussions, or discipline-specific discussions to health care providers' roles, such as nurses, social workers, and physicians.
Can we break down the required content into multiple sessions?
Are trainers required to cover all of the required content in one session?
What if some of the content (e.g., child witness to violence) is outside of the expertise of the trainer? Will the training count as "Chapter 260-compliant" if it has some, but not all, elements?
We have learned from years of training health care providers that case specific content, detailed case vignettes and real-life examples from practice are the "best practices" in training health care providers. They build social empathy and make the sexual and domestic violence content relevant and compelling to the providers’ communities and practices. This training application has so much required content that it doesn’t seem like it is designed with creative and best practice approaches in mind.
Online Training Concept and Content
Are online trainings being considered?
DPH’s Interpretation of Chapter 260
Why is the training content broader than the required content mandated in the law/Chapter 260?
Why is DPH providing in-person training with such prescribed content? It’s like trainers are being asked to enforce compliance and regulatory requirements, rather than fostering meaningful collaboration between community-based sexual and domestic violence programs and health care.
Monitoring/Tracking
How will providers document that they received this training?
What type of documentation are trainers required to provide to participants?
Will trainers be expected to provide a report to DPH about attendance?
Who is responsible for monitoring compliance? Is it DPH? The Boards of Registration for each discipline?
Is there an evaluation plan? How will we know that the trainings are effective?
Fees Associated with Training
Has DPH stipulated how much trainers can charge for this training?
If trainers are unable to front the costs of CEUs/CMEs, will this make them less competitive to receive approval for their training?