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New medical liability bill up for debate

Credentialing Resource Center Connection, May 12, 2004

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Two long-term care associations -- the American Health Care Association (AHCA) and the National Center for Assisted Living (NCAL) - this week urged the House to pass the "Help Efficient, Accessible, Low Cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act," introduced by U.S. Rep. Jim Greenwood (R-PA).

Concerned about rising malpractice lawsuits against long-term care facilities, the two associations said the bill would help safeguard patient access to quality care by making several common sense reforms. Among them, the associations said the bill:

- Promotes the speedy resolution of claims by limiting the
filing of health care lawsuits to three years after the date of an alleged incident

- Allocates damages fairly - only in proportion to a party's
degree of fault

- Compensates for patient injury by allowing injured parties
to recover economic damages such as future medical expenses and loss of
future earnings

- Maximizes patient recovery by empowering the court to ensure
that unjust portions are not misdirected to attorneys

- Puts reasonable limits, not caps, on punitive damages

- Allows state flexibility by allowing states that have
already enacted damage caps, whether larger or smaller than those provided for in The HEALTH Act, to retain such caps

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