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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
04/19/2024 05:27 PM
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20150&cosponId=17731
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House of Representatives
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: March 11, 2015 03:49 PM
From: Representative Matthew E. Baker
To: All House members
Subject: Volunteer Healthcare Practitioners Act (Former HB 1760)
 
Currently, our Commonwealth faces a significant increase in health care costs to the state in the current fiscal year as a result of uncompensated care provided in hospital emergency rooms and for the State’s portion of Medicaid coverage. Additionally, our Commonwealth is losing exceptional medical professionals to other states due to our outdated medical malpractice rules and regulations and the high cost of medical malpractice insurance. To prevent this loss of good medical talent and to provide quality health care services to those who cannot afford to pay, I am introducing the “Volunteer Health Care Practitioners Act.” This bill (former HB 1760) was introduced by Rep. Gordon Denlinger during the 2013-14 legislative session.
This bill provides that a health care practitioner who is certified as a volunteer health care practitioner by the Department of Health is immune from civil liability in accordance with the Act, so long as he/she provides 48 hours of uncompensated, voluntary care at a free health clinic within the Commonwealth every quarter.
This bill currently only applies to those who meet the Commonwealth’s licensure requirements and are deemed employees of designated free health clinics.
Finally, this Act provides that all those who are certified as volunteer health care practitioners are immune from civil liability for any personal injury or wrongful death that is the result of any act or omission in the course of rendering medical treatment and care. There is an exception for the immunity in that it does not extend to any act or omission that was the result of gross negligence or willful or wanton misconduct.
Simply put, health care practitioners would be able to relieve themselves of the burden of carrying medical malpractice insurance by providing free care to those in need.


Introduced as HB40