HR 8310
Patient Safety and Whistleblower Protections Act
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Bill overview
The Patient Safety and Whistleblower Protections Act aims to protect healthcare providers who raise concerns about the quality of care. It prohibits retaliation against these providers for communicating about patient safety issues, establishing a rebuttable presumption of retaliation within 180 days of a communication. The bill also outlines a process for filing lawsuits against facilities engaging in retaliation and includes provisions for class action lawsuits and reporting patient safety concerns to relevant authorities. Furthermore, it clarifies that reporting concerns shouldn’t negatively impact professional liability actions and modifies Medicare reporting requirements to include anonymous reporting and investigation processes.
Key provisions
- Prohibits retaliation against healthcare providers for reporting patient safety concerns.
- Establishes a rebuttable presumption of retaliation within 180 days of a communication about patient safety.
- Allows for class action lawsuits against healthcare facilities engaging in retaliatory practices.
- Requires healthcare facilities to indemnify or contribute for retaliation attributed to staffing companies or management services companies.
- Protects healthcare providers from adverse employment actions related to reporting concerns.
- Modifies Medicare reporting requirements to include anonymous reporting and investigation processes.
- Clarifies that reporting concerns cannot be used against healthcare providers in professional liability actions.
- Nullifies contractual provisions that would prevent healthcare providers from reporting patient safety concerns.
Who is affected
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119th CONGRESS — 2d Session
H. R. 8310
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
A BILL
To establish protections for health care providers who raise concerns about the quality of health care services, and for other purposes.
This Act may be cited as the Patient Safety and Whistleblower Protections Act
.
In this Act:
The term communicate, with respect to health care safety information, includes written or oral communications.
The term government official means any local, State, Tribal, or Federal Governmental official, including municipal mayors and their staff, State governors and their staff, State legislators and their staff, Federal legislators and their staff, and staff or leaders of Federal agencies or other Federal authorities.
The term health care facility means a facility in which health care services are provided, including any hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, skilled nursing facilities, home health agencies, clinics, urgent care centers, physician offices, dental offices, end-stage renal facilities, chiropractic offices, optometry offices, ophthalmology offices, nursing homes, behavioral health centers, community mental health centers, addiction treatment facilities, rehabilitation centers, hospices, outpatient therapy facilities, and Federally qualified health centers.
The term health care practitioner means an individual who is licensed by a State, or otherwise authorized, to provide health care services.
The term health care service means care, treatment, services, or other procedures to maintain, diagnose, or otherwise affect an individual’s physical or mental condition. Such term includes medical, paramedical, nursing, chiropractic, dental, behavioral, psychiatric, psychological, and vision services.
The term patient safety concern means a communication regarding a concern that materially affects the health of one of more patients or that has the potential to materially affect the health of one or more patients, including a concern about—
The term retaliation means any adverse employment action against a health care practitioner or any other materially adverse action that would dissuade a reasonable health care practitioner from raising patient safety concerns, including adverse actions against a health care practitioner who is no longer employed by, contracting with, or otherwise providing health care services at the health facility to which the patient safety concerns relate.
A health care facility may not retaliate against a health care practitioner for communicating about patient safety concerns, including any written or oral patient safety concerns communicated to—
There shall be a rebuttable presumption that any adverse employment action or other materially adverse action against the health care practitioner within 180 days of the health care practitioner communicating about patient safety concerns is retaliation.
Any retaliation by a health care practitioner, manager, supervisor, executive, staffing company, provider organization that contracts to provide services at the health care facility, or management services company shall be attributed to the health care facility that is the subject of the patient safety concerns. A health care facility may seek indemnification or contribution from a staffing company, provider organization that contracts to provide services at the health care facility, or management services company for retaliation attributed to the health care facility under this subsection.
Nothing in this section prohibits any adverse employment action or other materially adverse action against a health care practitioner that is not in retaliation for communicating about patient safety concerns.
Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any contractual provision that would prohibit a provider from communicating about patient safety concerns, or otherwise speaking truthfully about the quality of health care services, shall be null and void.
A health care practitioner who communicates about patient safety concerns shall be released from any existing non-competition agreement with the employer or contractor of the health care practitioner if the non-competition agreement relates to the health care practitioner’s employment or contract work at the health facility that is the subject of the patient safety concerns.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as prohibiting a civil lawsuit against a health care practitioner who communicated about patient safety concerns in bad faith, if an independent investigation has determined that the patient safety concerns were not valid.
A health care facility that retaliates against a health care practitioner for communicating patient safety concerns is liable to that practitioner in an amount equal to the sums determined in paragraph (2).
a total amount for all other class members, without regard to a minimum individual recovery amount, of the greatest of—
attorney’s fees and costs.
Any action alleging retaliation for communicating patient safety concerns under this section may be commenced not later than 3 years after the last action that is alleged to be retaliatory occurs.
An action alleging retaliation for communicating patient safety concerns may be filed—
not earlier than the date on which—
180 days after the filing of a complaint under paragraph (1)(A) and, if applicable, a complaint under paragraph (1)(B).
In any civil or criminal action against a health care facility or health care practitioner relating to professional liability, communications about patient safety concerns made by the health care practitioner that is the subject of the civil or criminal action may not be used to draw an adverse inference about the quality of health care services provided by the health care practitioner. The preceding sentence shall only apply if the communications about patient safety concerns were made by the health care practitioner prior to the filing of the civil or criminal action against the health care facility or health care practitioner.
by moving subparagraphs (W) and (X) 2 ems to the left;
in subparagraph (X), by striking and
at the end;
in subparagraph (Y), by striking the period at the end and inserting , and
; and
by inserting after subparagraph (Y) the following new subparagraph:
to establish—
a mechanism that allows a health care provider or practitioner to anonymously report patient safety concerns; and
a process for investigating and addressing any patient safety concern reported to the provider of services.
The amendments made by subsection (a) shall take effect 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act.
Nothing in this Act, including the amendments made by this Act, shall be construed to limit or supersede the protections for health care providers with respect to reporting patient safety events pursuant to part C of title IX of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 299b–21 et seq.) or any other Federal or State law on patient safety reporting.