July 29, 2005
ASA
President Eugene Sinclair Attends White House Bill
Signing Ceremony
ASA
President Eugene Sinclair, M.D. today joined President
George W. Bush at the White House for the President’s
signing of S.544, the Patient Safety and Quality
Improvement Act of 2005. In recognition of
the accomplishments of anesthesiology in advancing
patient safety, Dr. Sinclair was invited to join
other representatives of the medical profession to
witness the President’s signing of this legislation
that will create a new medical error reporting system.
The
bill signed by the President will create a new voluntary
reporting system under which “patient safety
organizations” would receive and analyze information
on reported medical errors on a confidential basis. The “patient
safety organizations” would then be expected
to develop and disseminate evidence-based information
to help physicians and other providers implement
changes in practice patterns to prevent future medical
errors. A key feature of the bill would ensure
that reported data could not be discoverable by plaintiffs’ attorneys.
The
Friday morning bill signing ceremony caps a week
of Congressional attention to health care issues. The
GOP leadership in the House of Representatives designated
the week of July 25-29 as “Health Week.” As
part of the designation, the House considered and
passed numerous health-related proposals. In
addition to the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement
Act of 2005 which passed the House by a vote of 428-3
on June 27th, (view
the ASA letter of support for S.544) the House also considered
and passed the following ASA-endorsed bills:
H.R.1132, the National All Schedule
Prescription Electronic Report (NASPER) Act, legislation
to create a grant program to fund the creation
of and improvements to state-based prescription
drug monitoring programs. Because
of the importance of this legislation to anesthesiologists
working with pain patients, ASA worked with House
and Senate staffers throughout the progression
of the legislation from first introduction to final
passage to ensure the appropriate balance between
the rights of physicians to provide appropriate
treatment of pain and the need for law enforcement
authorities to address the abuse and diversion
of controlled substances. Many of the provisions
and revisions supported by ASA toward this end
were retained in the final House version of the
legislation. H.R.1132 passed the House by voice
vote and subsequently passed the Senate by voice
vote.”
View the ASA letter of
support for H.R.1132.
H.R. 5, the Help Efficient, Accessible,
Low-cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act of 2005,
a medical litigation reform bill. The
bill, which is closely patterned after the successful
California MICRA legislation, would enact several
national professional liability reforms, including
a cap on non-economic damages of $250,000. H.R.
5 passed the House by a vote of 230-194. View
the ASA
letter to the author of H.R.5, Rep. Phil Gingrey,
M.D. of Georgia. See
how your Member of Congress voted.