[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3962 Introduced in House (IH)]







109th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3962

To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide liability protections 
 for employees and contractors of health centers under section 330 of 
        such Act who provide health services in emergency areas.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 29, 2005

   Mr. Schwarz of Michigan introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To amend the Public Health Service Act to provide liability protections 
 for employees and contractors of health centers under section 330 of 
        such Act who provide health services in emergency areas.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE ACT; LIABILITY PROTECTIONS FOR HEALTH-
              CENTER PRACTITIONERS PROVIDING SERVICES IN EMERGENCY 
              AREAS.

    (a) In General.--Section 224(g) of the Public Health Service Act 
(42 U.S.C. 233(g)) is amended--
            (1) in paragraph (1)(B)(ii), by striking ``subparagraph 
        (C)'' and inserting ``subparagraph (C) and paragraph (6)''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following paragraph:
    ``(6)(A) Subject to subparagraph (C), paragraph (1)(B)(ii) applies 
to health services provided to individuals who are not patients of the 
entity involved if, as determined under criteria issued by the 
Secretary, the following conditions are met:
            ``(i) The services are provided by a contractor or employee 
        of the entity who is a physician or other licensed or certified 
        health care practitioner and who is otherwise deemed to be an 
        employee for purposes of paragraph (1)(A) when providing 
        services with respect to the entity.
            ``(ii) The services are provided in an emergency area (as 
        defined in subparagraph (D)).
            ``(iii) The services of the contractor or employee 
        (referred to in this paragraph as the `out-of-area 
        practitioner') are provided under an arrangement with--
                    ``(I) an entity that is deemed to be an employee 
                for purposes of paragraph (1)(A) and that serves the 
                emergency area involved (referred to in this paragraph 
                as an `emergency-area entity)'; or
                    ``(II) a Federal agency that has responsibilities 
                regarding the provision of health services in such area 
                during the emergency.
            ``(iv) The purposes of the arrangement are--
                    ``(I) to coordinate, to the extent practicable, the 
                provision of health services in the emergency area by 
                the out-of-area practitioner with the provision of 
                services by the emergency-area entity, or by the 
                Federal agency, as the case may be;
                    ``(II) to identify a location in the emergency area 
                to which such practitioner should report for purposes 
                of providing health services, and to identify an 
                individual or individuals in the area to whom the 
                practitioner should report for such purposes; and
                    ``(III) to verify the identity of the practitioner 
                and that the practitioner is licensed or certified by 
                one or more of the States.
            ``(v) With respect to the licensure or certification of 
        health care practitioners, the provision of services by the 
        out-of-area practitioner in the emergency area is not a 
        violation of the law of the State in which the area is located.
    ``(B) In issuing criteria under subparagraph (A), the Secretary 
shall take into account the need to rapidly enter into arrangements 
under such subparagraph in order to provide health services in 
emergency areas promptly after the emergency begins.
    ``(C) Subparagraph (A) applies with respect to an act or omission 
of an out-of-area practitioner only to the extent that the practitioner 
is not immune from liability for such act or omission under the 
Volunteer Protection Act of 1997.
    ``(D) For purposes of this paragraph, the term `emergency area' 
means a geographic area for which--
            ``(i) the Secretary has made a determination under section 
        319 that a public health emergency exists; or
            ``(ii) a presidential declaration of major disaster has 
        been issued under section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford 
        Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.''.
    (b) Effective Date.--With respect to paragraph (6) of section 
224(g) of the Public Health Service Act, as added by subsection (a) of 
this section:
            (1) Except as provided in this subsection, an arrangement 
        under subparagraph (A)(iii) of such paragraph (6) is deemed to 
        be in effect for any health professional who, within the 
        meaning of such paragraph--
                    (A) is an employee or contractor of a health center 
                under section 330 of such Act; and
                    (B) served or is serving as an out-of-area 
                practitioner in any emergency area declared as a result 
                of Hurricane Katrina or Hurricane Rita.
            (2) Such paragraph (6) is deemed to have taken effect on 
        August 27, 2005, for purposes of paragraph (1) of this 
        subsection. Such paragraph (6) otherwise takes effect on the 
        date of the enactment of this Act.
            (3) Paragraph (1) of this subsection applies until the 
        expiration of the 48-hour period beginning on the date on which 
        the Secretary of Health and Human Services publishes in the 
        Federal Register a notice that the applicability of such 
        paragraph is being terminated.
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