3.0.0 1374 2023-01-15T06:02:43Z 2023-01-15T06:02:43Z Senate S S 2003-07-08 108 ssfi00 Finance Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2003-07-08T20:32:48Z 2003-07-08 ssfi00 Finance Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. IntroReferral 2003-07-08 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress D000563 Sen. Durbin, Richard J. [D-IL] Richard Durbin D IL J. N G000359 Sen. Graham, Lindsey [R-SC] Lindsey Graham R SC 2003-07-08 True L000550 Sen. Landrieu, Mary L. [D-LA] MARY LANDRIEU D LA 2003-07-09 False J000177 Sen. Johnson, Tim [D-SD] TIM JOHNSON D SD 2003-07-09 False M001111 Sen. Murray, Patty [D-WA] Patty Murray D WA 2003-07-09 False P000590 Sen. Pryor, Mark L. [D-AR] Mark Pryor D AR Lunsford 2003-07-09 False E000286 Sen. Edwards, John [D-NC] JOHN EDWARDS D NC 2003-07-09 False D000432 Sen. Dorgan, Byron L. [D-ND] BYRON DORGAN D ND LESLIE 2003-07-09 False R000361 Sen. Rockefeller, John D., IV [D-WV] JAY ROCKEFELLER D WV 2003-07-09 False S000770 Sen. Stabenow, Debbie [D-MI] Debbie Stabenow D MI 2003-07-25 False C000127 Sen. Cantwell, Maria [D-WA] Maria Cantwell D WA 2004-02-24 False M000702 Sen. Mikulski, Barbara A. [D-MD] BARBARA MIKULSKI D MD ANN 2004-04-07 False Health Access to health care Economics and Public Finance Emergency Management Emergency medicine Families Federal advisory bodies Federal aid to child health services Federal aid to health facilities Finance and Financial Sector Frivolous lawsuits Government Operations and Politics Health insurance Insurance premiums Law Liability insurance Medicaid Medical malpractice Medicare Poor children Public health personnel Punitive damages Social Welfare Trauma care Health 00 2003-07-08 Introduced in Senate 2003-07-29T19:53:44Z Better HEALTH Act of 2003 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to allow the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Administrator of the Health Resources and Services Administration, to award grants or contracts for geographic areas that have a shortage of health care professionals due to the costs of medical malpractice insurance.

Amends the Internal Revenue Code to provide a business tax credit for medical professional malpractice insurance according to a specified schedule.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services, through the Health Resources and Services Administration, to make grants to eligible nonprofit hospitals and clinics to pay 15 percent of qualified medical malpractice insurance costs.

Prohibits any individual from bringing a medical malpractice liability action unless it is accompanied by the affidavit of a qualified specialist attesting to the reasonableness of the filing. Requires the attorney of a person filing such an action, or the individual if there is no attorney, to sign a certificate of merit attesting to the justified nature of the action.

Directs courts to impose sanctions for violations of the provisions pertaining to the certificate of merit, including to issue fines for multiple offenders.

Medical Malpractice Insurance Antitrust Act of 2003 - Declares that nothing in the McCarran-Ferguson Act shall be construed to permit commercial insurers to engage in any form of price fixing, bid rigging, or market allocations in connection with the conduct of the business of providing medical malpractice insurance.

Establishes an Independent Advisory Commission on Medical Malpractice Insurance.

Patient Safety Improvement and Medical Injury Reduction Act - Amends the Public Health Service Act to set forth that, with certain exceptions, patient safety information shall be privileged and confidential and not subject to specified disclosures. Allows health care professionals to waive such privileges. Declares that it is unlawful for any person to disclose patient safety information in violation of this Act (with specified exceptions).

Grants protection against adverse employment actions to individuals who report certain types of information to providers or patient safety organizations.

Requires the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality to establish: (1) a Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety; (2) a National Patient Safety Database; and (3) a National Patient Safety Research Demonstration System.

Directs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to award grants to eligible entities to promote community partnerships for health care improvement among health care professionals, with the aim of improving the quality of medical care in communities.

Directs the Secretary to appoint a Medical Information Technology Advisory Board.

Allows the Secretary to make grants for: (1) computerized physician order entry systems; (2) informatics systems; and (3) patient safety research.

Amends provisions of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to classify drugs and biological devices as misbranded unless they include a unique product identifier. Directs the Secretary to issue and periodically revise regulations to require the manufacturer of such a product, or its packager or labeler, to include such information on the packaging.

]]> Better HEALTH Act of 2003 Display Title Better HEALTH Act of 2003 Official Title as Introduced A bill to provide health care professionals with immediate relief from increased medical malpractice insurance costs and to deal with the root causes of the current medical malpractice insurance crisis. Introduced in Senate IS Short Titles as Introduced Better HEALTH Act of 2003 Short Titles as Introduced for portions of this bill Medical Malpractice Insurance Antitrust Act of 2003 Short Titles as Introduced for portions of this bill Patient Safety Improvement and Medical Injury Reduction Act Introduced in Senate 2003-07-08T04:00:00Z 2003-07-08 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance. text/xml EN Pursuant to Title 17 Section 105 of the United States Code, this file is not subject to copyright protection and is in the public domain. Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress This file contains bill summaries and statuses for federal legislation. A bill summary describes the most significant provisions of a piece of legislation and details the effects the legislative text may have on current law and federal programs. Bill summaries are authored by the Congressional Research Service (CRS) of the Library of Congress. As stated in Public Law 91-510 (2 USC 166 (d)(6)), one of the duties of CRS is "to prepare summaries and digests of bills and resolutions of a public general nature introduced in the Senate or House of Representatives". For more information, refer to the User Guide that accompanies this file.