N.M. Admin. Code § 13.4.7.8

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 24, December 23, 2024

Section 13.4.7.8 - [Effective 4/1/2025] INSURANCE CONTINUING EDUCATION COORDINATOR

A. The superintendent will appoint an insurance continuing education coordinator to approve individual courses of instruction for continuing education credit, notify the superintendent of approved courses as they are approved, make recommendations regarding continuing education courses and perform other tasks as assigned by the superintendent.

B. The continuing education coordinator shall not approve any continuing education course that does not provide a method by which a provider can confirm that a licensee has completed the course.

C.Coordinator requirements for continuing education review:

(1) Course application: the coordinator shall review each course application to determine whether the course meets the established requirements and to determine the number of credit hours for each education topic that a licensee may earn by completing the course;

(2) the coordinator shall employe or contract with, and shall train and supervise, individuals who have the requisite knowledge, skills, and abilities to competently review, evaluate, and render sound decisions on, and otherwise process applications for course approval;

(3) the coordinator shall possess and develop sufficient knowledge in each education topic prescribed by the OSI;

(4) education topics include ethics, flood insurance, long-term care partnership, and general (other insurance education meeting continuing education standards);

(5) the coordinator shall develop, implement, and ensure adherence to, policies and procedures for evaluating applications for curse approval. The coordinator may include as part of the policies and procedures a method for conducting an expedited review of an application. A coordinator that is a contractor to OSI and that intends to charge a different price to process a course application expeditiously shall include that price on the price sheet in response to an OSI solicitation;

(6) the coordinator shall review courses delivered through classroom instruction, instruction by audio media, instruction by video media, instruction from printed materials, computer-based instruction, webinars, and courses to be delivered via other course-delivery methods;

(7) the coordinator shall facilitate multi-state approval of a course, including accepting and reviewing applications submitted on systems and forms developed by the coordinator or on systems and forms developed by the NAIC, affiliates of the NAIC and business partners of the NAIC;

(8) the coordinator shall be required to ensure that the content of course instruction meets continuing education standards, to ensure that the instruction is presenting correct and current material, and to assign the correct number of credit hours to each education topic; and

(9) the coordinator shall render appropriate decisions concerning each course application within a thirty-day time period or shall notify the OSI in writing (email is acceptable) that the course review was not completed within the thirty-day period, explaining why the timeframe was not met.

D. If a course application is approved, the coordinator shall:

(1) Notify the approved provider that the course was approved including the approved course number and course title assigned to the course, the number of credit hours assigned to each education topic and the total credit hours assigned to the course; and

(2) provide the approved provider an efficient means to issue a certificate of compliance to each licensee who completes the course, including instruction to the approved provider on how to properly complete a certificate of compliance.

E. If a course application is incomplete, the coordinator shall send a notice of deficiency to the approved provider and shall require the approved provider to respond to all deficiencies within 30 calendar days. The coordinator's 30-day time frame shall be suspended from the date the coordinator sends the notice of deficiency to the date the coordinator receives a response from the approved provider.

F. Before disapproving a complete course application that does not meet the continuing education standards, the coordinator shall give the approved provider an opportunity to eliminate the problem or barrier preventing the course from being approved as an approved course.

G. If a course application is disapproved, the coordinator shall provide the reason for the denial to the approved provider, and shall inform the approved provider about their appeal rights.

H. The coordinator shall develop, maintain and administer policies and procedures for handling appeals of course application denials, and the coordinator shall testify to, and support, in any appeal proceeding, decisions made by the coordinator.

I. If the OSI establishes another education topic that the coordinator shall consider when evaluating course applications, the coordinator shall, at no charge, facilitate and consider an approved provider's request to reallocate the credit hours awarded to an approved course to newly established types or categories of education.

J. The coordinator shall develop, maintain and administer policies and procedures for the retention of, disposition of, and public accessibility to, course applications, application decisions and associated correspondence. All documents shall be retained by the coordinator for ten years after the date of receipt.

N.M. Admin. Code § 13.4.7.8

13.4.7.8 NMAC - Rp, 13 NMAC 4.7.8, 5-1-02, Adopted by New Mexico Register, Volume XXIX, Issue 04, February 27, 2018, eff. 2/27/2018, Adopted by New Mexico Register, Volume XXXV, Issue 23, December 10, 2024, eff. 4/1/2025