    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
    [July 29, 2005]
    [Pages 1281-1283]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks on Signing the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of
    2005
    July 29, 2005

        Welcome. Good morning. In a few moments, I'll have the honor of
    signing the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005. This
    bill is a critical step toward our goal of ensuring top-quality,
    patient-driven health care for all Americans.

        With this law, we'll be able to obtain more accurate information
    about medical treatments. And by providing doctors with information
    about what treatments work and what treatments cause problems, we will
    reduce medical errors that injure and cause the deaths of thousands of
    Americans each year.
        I commend the Members of Congress for their hard work in passing
    this piece of legislation. This has been a productive week for the
    United States Senate and the House of Representatives. I'm looking
    forward to signing an energy bill that will encourage conservation,
    increase domestic

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    production, and help reduce our dependence on foreign oil. I'm looking
    forward to signing a highway bill that will strengthen our
    transportation infrastructure and improve the safety of our roads and
    create jobs.
        I appreciate the House and the Senate for passing the Central
    American-Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement that will level the
    playing field for America's goods as well as promote democracy in our
    hemisphere. All these bills are good bills. They're good for the people
    of this country. And I appreciate their hard work in getting them to my
    desk.
        I want to thank the Secretary of Health and Human Services for
    joining us, Mike Leavitt. I appreciate
    Senator Bill Frist, the majority leader, Dr. Bill Frist. [Laughter] I want to thank Committee Chairman Mike
    Enzi, Senator Judd Gregg, and Ted Kennedy and Jim
    Jeffords for their good work in the United
    States Senate on this piece of legislation. I appreciate my friend from
    Texas, Joe Barton--Congressman Joe Barton and
    Nathan Deal and Mike Bilirakis for joining me here today as I sign this piece of
    legislation.
        I want to thank Dr. Edward Hill, who is
    the president of the American Medical Association, straight out of
    Mississippi. [Laughter] I appreciate Dr. Sophia Smith, who is the Children's National Medical Center, Dr.
    Janis Orlowski, who is the senior vice
    president of the Washington Hospital Center, and Susan Mintz--Suzanne
    Mintz, the president of the National
    Family Caregivers Association. Thank you all for coming. I also want to
    welcome our professionals who are here with us today.
        The Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act will help ensure that
    Americans continue to benefit from the greatest medical system in the
    world. To maintain the highest standards of care, doctors and nurses
    must be able to exchange information about problems and solutions. Yet
    in recent years, many doctors have grown afraid to discuss their
    practices because they worry that the information they provide will be
    used against them in a lawsuit.
        This bill will help solve that problem. This is a commonsense law
    that gives legal protections to health professionals who report their
    practices to patient safety organizations. By providing critical
    information about medical procedures, doctors and nurses can help others
    learn from their experiences. That's why I said it's a commonsense law.
    By making essential information more available across America, we will
    help ensure that patients benefit from the best medical treatment, no
    matter where they live. That seems to make sense to me.
        This bill builds on other commonsense reforms we're making to the
    American health care system. By providing a new Medicare prescription
    drug benefit, we're giving seniors more choices and helping them get the
    medicine they need. By making health savings accounts more broadly
    available, we're helping more Americans own and control their own health
    coverage. By increasing funding for community health centers, we're
    helping the poor and the uninsured get the quality health care they
    deserve and need.
        We'll continue working to improve our health care system. To make it
    easier for employers to offer coverage to their workers, we must allow
    small businesses to join together to buy insurance at the same discounts
    that big businesses can do. To reduce costs and improve care, we must
    harness the power of information technology to computerize health
    records.
        And we've got to stop the frivolous lawsuits that are running up the
    cost of medicine and driving good professionals out of this important
    profession. We need medical liability reform now. The bill I sign today
    is an example of people coming together to do what's right for the
    country.
        Again, I want to thank the Members of Congress who are here. It is
    now my honor to sign this good bill into law.

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    Note: The President spoke at 10:09 a.m. in Room 450 of the Eisenhower
    Executive Office Building. S. 544, approved July 29, was assigned Public
    Law No. 109-41.