(b) Massage therapists shall be exempt from the mandatory continuing
education requirement for the triennial registration period during which
they are first licensed. In accord with the intent of this section,
adjustments to the mandatory continuing education requirement may be
granted by the department for reasons of health certified by an
appropriate health care professional, for extended active duty with the
armed forces of the United States, or for other good cause acceptable to
the department which may prevent compliance.
(c) A licensed massage therapist not engaged in professional practice,
as determined by the department, shall be exempt from the mandatory
continuing education requirement upon the filing of a statement with the
department declaring such status. Any licensee who returns to the
practice of massage therapy during the triennial registration period
shall notify the department prior to reentering the profession and shall
meet such mandatory education requirements as shall be prescribed by
regulations of the commissioner.
2. During each triennial registration period an applicant for
registration as a massage therapist shall complete a minimum of
thirty-six hours of acceptable formal continuing education, a maximum of
twelve hours of which may be self-instructional course work acceptable
to the department. Any massage therapist whose first registration date
following the effective date of this section occurs less than three
years from such effective date, shall complete continuing education
hours on a prorated basis at the rate of one hour per month for the
period beginning January first, two thousand twelve up to the first
registration date thereafter. A licensee who has not satisfied the
mandatory continuing education requirements shall not be issued a
triennial registration certificate by the department and shall not
practice unless and until a conditional registration certificate is
issued as provided for in subdivision three of this section, or until he
or she has otherwise met the requirements of this section.
3. The department, in its discretion, may issue a conditional
registration to a licensee who fails to meet the continuing education
requirements established in subdivision two of this section but who
agrees to make up any deficiencies and complete any additional education
which the department may require. The fee for such a conditional
registration shall be the same as, and in addition to, the fee for the
triennial registration. The duration of such conditional registration
shall be determined by the department but shall not exceed one year. Any
licensee who is notified of the denial of registration for failure to
submit evidence, satisfactory to the department, of required continuing
education and who practices without such registration, may be subject to
disciplinary proceedings pursuant to section sixty-five hundred ten of
this chapter.
4. As used in subdivision two of this section, "acceptable formal
continuing education" may mean formal programs of learning which
contribute to professional practice in massage therapy which are offered
by sponsors of massage therapy continuing education approved by the
department in consultation with the state board for massage therapy, to
fulfill the mandatory continuing education requirement. Sponsors of
massage therapy continuing education may include, but are not limited
to, state or national professional associations established to further
the massage therapy profession, and may include any affiliates of
international massage therapy conferences at which professional
continuing education is a major component of such conferences, as well
as programs registered as licensure-qualifying for the profession of
massage therapy by the department. Sponsors of massage therapy shall
file an application with the department and pay a fee of nine hundred
dollars. While presenters of didactic instruction may be provided by
persons who are not licensed by the state of New York as massage
therapists, the practical application of such modalities and techniques
must be done by licensed massage therapists, or those otherwise
authorized, when this continuing education occurs in the state of New
York.
5. Massage therapists shall maintain adequate documentation of
completion of acceptable formal continuing education and shall provide
such documentation at the request of the department. Failure to provide
such documentation upon the request of the department shall be an act of
misconduct subject to disciplinary proceedings pursuant to section
sixty-five hundred ten of this chapter.
6. The mandatory continuing education fee shall be forty-five dollars,
shall be payable on or before the first day of each triennial
registration period, and shall be paid in addition to the triennial
registration fee required by section seventy-one hundred twenty-four of
this chapter.