An Act To Prohibit Hospitals from Charging for Treatment To Correct Medical Mistakes
Sec. 1. 22 MRSA §1721 is enacted to read:
§ 1721. Prohibition on charging for health care facility mistakes
(1) Surgery performed on the wrong body part;
(2) Surgery performed on the wrong patient;
(3) The wrong surgical procedure performed on a patient;
(4) Retention of a foreign object in a patient after surgery or another procedure;
(5) Intraoperative or immediately postoperative death of a patient classified as a normal healthy patient under guidelines published by a national association of anesthesiologists;
(6) Patient death or serious disability associated with the use of contaminated drugs, devices or biologics provided by a hospital or ambulatory surgical center;
(7) Patient death or serious disability associated with the use or function of a device in patient care in which the device is used for functions other than as intended;
(8) Patient death or serious disability associated with an intravascular air embolism that occurs while being cared for in a health care facility;
(9) An infant's being discharged to the wrong person;
(10) Patient death or serious disability associated with a patient's elopement for more than 4 hours;
(11) Patient suicide or attempted suicide resulting in serious disability while being cared for in a health care facility;
(12) Patient death or serious disability associated with a medication error such as an error involving the wrong drug, wrong dose, wrong patient, wrong time, wrong rate, wrong preparation or wrong route of administration;
(13) Patient death or serious disability associated with a hemolytic reaction due to the administration of incompatible blood or blood products;
(14) Maternal death or serious disability associated with labor or delivery in a low-risk pregnancy while being cared for in a health care facility;
(15) Patient death or serious disability associated with hypoglycemia, the onset of which occurs while the patient is being cared for in a health care facility;
(16) Death or serious disability associated with failure to identify and treat hyperbilirubinemia in neonates;
(17) Stage 3 or 4 pressure ulcers acquired after admission to a health care facility;
(18) Patient death or serious disability due to spinal manipulative therapy;
(19) Patient death or serious disability associated with an electric shock while being cared for in a health care facility;
(20) Any incident in which a line designated for oxygen or other gas to be delivered to a patient contains the wrong gas or is contaminated by toxic substances;
(21) Patient death or serious disability associated with a burn incurred from any source while being cared for in a health care facility;
(22) Patient death associated with a fall while being cared for in a health care facility;
(23) Patient death or serious disability associated with the use of restraints or bedrails while being cared for in a health care facility;
(24) Any instance of care ordered by or provided by someone impersonating a physician, nurse, pharmacist or other licensed health care provider;
(25) Abduction of a patient of any age;
(26) Sexual assault of a patient within or on the grounds of a health care facility; and
(27) Death or significant injury of a patient or staff member resulting from a physical assault that occurs within or on the grounds of a health care facility.
summary
This bill prohibits a health care facility from charging a patient or the patient’s insurer for a mistake made by that health care facility or for a preventable adverse event that occurs while the patient is in the care of a health care facility or for the care provided by that health care facility to correct its mistakes or rectify the preventable adverse event. A list of 27 such mistakes or preventable adverse events is provided and is taken from the recommendations of the National Quality Forum in 2002.