3.0.0 1063 2023-01-11T13:36:30Z 2023-01-11T13:36:30Z Senate S 2017-05-04 115 sshr00 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Senate Standing Referred to 2017-05-04T20:11:59Z Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2017 115 2392 HR 2017-05-18 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health. Identical bill CRS 2017-05-04 sshr00 Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Senate Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. IntroReferral 2017-05-04 Introduced in Senate IntroReferral 10000 9 Library of Congress B000944 Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH] Sherrod Brown D OH N W000817 Sen. Warren, Elizabeth [D-MA] Elizabeth Warren D MA A. 2017-09-18 False B001230 Sen. Baldwin, Tammy [D-WI] Tammy Baldwin D WI 2017-11-08 False S000033 Sen. Sanders, Bernard [I-VT] Bernard Sanders I VT 2017-12-19 False H001075 Sen. Harris, Kamala D. [D-CA] Kamala Harris D CA D. 2018-11-15 False Health Administrative law and regulatory procedures Civil actions and liability Department of Health and Human Services Employment discrimination and employee rights Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management Government information and archives Government studies and investigations Health care quality Health facilities and institutions Health information and medical records Health personnel Health programs administration and funding Health technology, devices, supplies Hospital care Indian social and development programs Labor-management relations Medicaid Medical education Medicare Military medicine Minority health Nursing Student aid and college costs Veterans' medical care Health 00 2017-05-04 Introduced in Senate 2017-07-18T20:29:00Z Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2017

This bill amends the Public Health Service Act to require hospitals to implement and submit to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a staffing plan that complies with specified minimum nurse-to-patient ratios by unit. Hospitals must post a notice regarding nurse-to-patient ratios in each unit and maintain records of actual ratios for each shift in each unit.

HHS must adjust Medicare payments to hospitals to cover additional costs incurred in providing services to Medicare beneficiaries that are attributable to compliance with these ratios.

The bill states that nurses have a duty and a right to act based on their professional judgment and provide care in the exclusive interests of patients. Nurses may object to, or refuse to participate in, an assignment if it would violate minimum ratios or if they are not prepared by education or experience to fulfill the assignment without compromising the safety of a patient or jeopardizing their nurse's license. Hospitals may not: (1) take specified actions against a nurse based on the nurse's refusal to accept an assignment for such a reason; or (2) discriminate against individuals for good faith complaints relating to the care, services, or conditions of the hospital or related facilities. HHS must publish the names of hospitals penalized for violating the requirements in this bill.

The bill adds stipends to the nurse workforce loan repayment and scholarship program. The nurse retention grant program is expanded to authorize programs to implement nurse preceptorship and mentorship projects.

]]> Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2017 Display Title Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2017 Official Title as Introduced A bill to amend the Public Health Service Act to establish direct care registered nurse-to-patient staffing ratio requirements in hospitals, and for other purposes. Introduced in Senate IS Short Titles as Introduced Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2017 Introduced in Senate 2017-05-04T04:00:00Z https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-115s1063is/xml/BILLS-115s1063is.xml 2017-05-04 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. 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.