Summary — S.1480 (2025): An Act relative to physician workforce data collection
Note: The materials provided include inconsistent metadata (an unrelated title and a list of federal sponsors). This summary follows the bill text filed and presented by Senator Nick Collins (First Suffolk) titled “An Act relative to physician workforce data collection,” Senate Docket No. 1925 / Senate No. 1480.
Overview / Purpose
The bill requires the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine to collect voluntary demographic, linguistic, educational, and practice‑related data from physician licensure applicants and licensees and to provide aggregated, de‑identified results to the Center for Health Information and Analysis (CHIA). The stated purpose is to enable public assessment of how physician workforce diversity relates to health outcomes in the Commonwealth.
Key provisions
- Adds a new Section 245 to Chapter 111 of the Massachusetts General Laws creating the data collection requirement.
- Requires the Board to request designated information from:
- All applicants who apply for licensure under Section 2 of Chapter 112 on or after January 1, 2027.
- All license holders when they renew licenses on or after January 1, 2027.
- Participation is explicitly voluntary; data are not required for licensure decisions and will be held separately from licensing records.
- CHIA must publish aggregated, de‑identified data on its website within 60 days after the end of each year.
- CHIA must report annually (no later than February 28) to the Clerks of the House and Senate, the Joint Committee on Public Health, and the Department of Public Health.
- The Board and CHIA are prohibited from selling the collected information to third parties.
- The act becomes effective 90 days after enactment.
Data elements requested
For applicants (upon initial licensure) and for licensees at renewal (and thereafter only changes after the first submission):
- Demographic information (including, but not limited to, race, ethnicity, and gender identity)
- Linguistic information
- Medical specialty or subspecialty
- Primary and secondary practice location (if known)
- Duration of practice in Massachusetts
- Employment status (part‑time, full‑time, per diem)
Additional information requested from renewing licensees:
- Whether the licensee is currently practicing
- Primary and secondary practice location at renewal
- Employment status (part‑time, full‑time, per diem)
Who is affected
- Physicians applying for Massachusetts licensure on/after Jan 1, 2027 and licensees renewing on/after that date (participation voluntary).
- The Board of Registration in Medicine (responsible for collecting requests).
- CHIA (responsible for receiving, de‑identifying, aggregating, publishing data, and reporting).
- Researchers, policymakers, health systems, and the public (will have access to aggregated workforce diversity data).
Potential impact and considerations
- Intended to improve capacity for analysis of physician workforce diversity and its association with health outcomes and access.
- Because participation is voluntary and data are self‑reported, completeness and representativeness may be limited.
- Aggregation and de‑identification plus prohibition on sale reduce privacy and commercial risks, but small‑cell suppression and other privacy controls will be important for publication.
- Administrative cost and implementation tasks for the Board (system updates, data management) and CHIA (processing and publishing annual datasets).
Timeline & procedural status (from provided record)
- Bill filed/presented: January 17, 2025 (Senate Docket No. 1925 / Senate No. 1480).
- Data collection provisions take effect for applications and renewals on or after January 1, 2027.
- Act becomes effective 90 days after enactment.
- CHIA must publish annual aggregated data within 60 days after each calendar year ends and submit annual reports by Feb 28.
Legislative action notes in the provided materials are inconsistent (multiple referrals and dates listed). The primary bill text and sponsor is Senator Nick Collins; committee referrals and hearings should be confirmed in the official legislative docket for the most current status.
