Health Coalition Supports Bill Offering Protections for Pandemic Providers

WASHINGTON, May 10, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The Health Coalition on Liability and Access (HCLA) today announced its support of a bill introduced in the House of Representatives that offers long-overdue protections for health care responders and facilities confronting the COVID-19 pandemic head-on since 2020.

H.R. 3021, The Coronavirus Provider Protection Act, is a bipartisan bill introduced by Representatives Lou Correa (D-Calif.) and Michael Burgess, MD (R-Texas), addressing the challenges providers have faced from the spread of COVID-19 in the U.S. Confronting risks at the onset of the pandemic ? including workforce shortages, inadequate safety supplies, and changing guidance from federal, state, and local government officials ? providers now face the very real threat of unwarranted medical liability lawsuits.   

With COVID-19 still disrupting our health care system, the patchwork of state laws and expiring executive orders adopted during the pandemic are insufficient in addressing this national problem, which requires a federal solution.

The narrowly-crafted liability protections in H.R. 3021 would apply only when:

• The act or omission occurred during the declared COVID-19 public health emergency or within 60 days of termination of the emergency;
• The act or omission occurred while providing or arranging care;
• The services were within the provider's scope of licensure/certification, without regard as to whether the service fell within the usual scope of practice; and
• The services were provided in good faith.

Additional actions covered by the bill would include those taken based on direction or guidance from any Federal, State, or local official/department/agency, as well as those taken due to a lack of resources attributable to the declared emergency.

"Until the Coronavirus Provider Protection Act is passed, the very health care providers and facilities that have been celebrated as our nation's heroes remain vulnerable to the threat of unwarranted liability lawsuits," said HCLA Chair Mike Stinson in a letter of support to Representatives Correa and Burgess. "We are committed to working to ensure that this threat is avoided so the highest level of care may continue to be provided to those both directly and indirectly affected by the pandemic."

For more details, visit www.hcla.org. The Health Coalition on Liability and Access is a national advocacy coalition representing physicians, hospitals, health care liability insurers, employers, health care providers and consumers. HCLA believes federal legislation is needed to bring fairness, timeliness and cost-effectiveness to America's medical liability system.

SOURCE Health Coalition on Liability and Access