Does a psychiatry or behavioral health clinic in Massachusetts need a medical director?

Q: Does a psychiatry or behavioral health clinic in Massachusetts need a medical director?

Yes. The rule calls the role Professional Services Director. A health care professional with academic training and experience in direct patient care, qualified to direct the clinical services the clinic provides — not necessarily a physician.

🧠 Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Clinic · Massachusetts

Massachusetts: medical director and delegated services for a psychiatry or behavioral health clinic

Whether Massachusetts requires a physician medical director for a psychiatry or behavioral health clinic, the qualifications, duties, and what the state says about the staff who deliver protocol-driven services.

Medical directorMedical director required

Title in the ruleProfessional Services Director

Research date2026-09-03

Qualifications

A health care professional with academic training and experience in direct patient care, qualified to direct the clinical services the clinic provides — not necessarily a physician.

Duties the rule assigns

Be responsible for the clinical services provided at the clinic
Be physically present as necessary to oversee those services

Notes

Same 105 CMR 140 'Clinic' licensure mechanism as this state's urgentCare entry — applies only when the practice is NOT wholly owned/controlled by its practitioners (105 CMR 140.020). Substance-use/addiction programs are licensed under a separate DPH Bureau of Substance Addiction Services framework, not confirmed to carry an identical requirement — see this state's addictionMedicine research gap noted in the top-level notes.

Sources (2)

Every clinician in Massachusetts · Psychiatry & Behavioral Health Clinic in other states