Patient Safety and Whistleblower Protections Act

This bill would bar health care facilities from retaliating against health care practitioners who raise patient safety concerns with supervisors, state authorities, government officials, patient safety organizations, or investigators, and in some cases with the news media after 90 days. Any adverse action taken within 180 days of raising a concern would be presumed to be retaliation, and contract terms that block such communication would be void. Practitioners could sue for actual damages, attorney's fees, and punitive damages of up to $1,000,000, and class actions would be allowed, after first filing a complaint with the state licensing authority. Facilities in Medicare would have to set up a way for staff to report safety concerns anonymously and a process to investigate them.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Mary Gay Scanlon Democrat sponsor
• 0 cosponsors