Patient Safety and Whistleblower Protections Act
Sponsored By: Representative Scanlon, Mary Gay [D-PA-5]
Introduced
Summary
Federal protections for health care whistleblowers. This bill would protect health care practitioners who raise patient safety concerns, bar retaliation by facilities, and create reporting and enforcement paths tied to Medicare.
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- Health care workers and employers: It would forbid retaliation by health care facilities for reporting patient safety concerns after a 90 day window if no meaningful fix occurs. Actions within 180 days of a report would create a rebuttable presumption of retaliation. The bill would void contract clauses that silence staff about safety and would negate non‑competes tied to patient safety while letting facilities seek indemnity from staffing contractors.
- Legal remedies and process: Practitioners could seek actual damages and attorney fees and face punitive damages up to $1 million. Class actions would include a $10,000 floor per named plaintiff and tiered damages for others. Plaintiffs must file certain complaints with state licensing bodies and, for hospitals, the Joint Commission before suing and have a 3 year statute of limitations.
- Patient reporting and Medicare link: For providers in Medicare the bill would require an anonymous reporting system and a process to investigate and resolve reported safety concerns starting 1 year after enactment.
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Bill Overview
Analyzed Economic Effects
3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 0 costs, 2 mixed.
Anonymous reporting for Medicare providers
If enacted, Medicare providers would be required to offer an anonymous way for health care workers to report patient safety concerns. The bill would also require providers to have a process to investigate and address any reported safety concerns. These Medicare requirements would take effect one year after enactment.
New enforcement rules and big damage awards
If enacted, practitioners who win retaliation suits could recover actual damages, attorney fees and costs, and punitive damages up to $1,000,000 in individual cases. The bill would allow class actions where each named plaintiff gets at least $10,000 or actual damages, and unnamed class members share a lump sum based on the greatest of actual damages, $500,000, or 1% of the facility’s net worth (or in narrow ownership cases 1% of the top owner’s net worth). Before suing, a practitioner would have to file a complaint with the State licensing authority and, for hospitals, with the Joint Commission, and wait for those investigations to finish or 180 days. A suit must start within 3 years of the last alleged retaliatory act. Employers could sue for bad-faith reports only after an independent investigation finds the report invalid. Also, prior safety reports made before a civil or criminal case could not be used to draw an adverse inference about care quality.
Stronger whistleblower protections for workers
If enacted, the bill would bar a health care facility from retaliating when a practitioner reports patient safety concerns to supervisors, state authorities, patient safety organizations, investigators, or government officials. Reports to the news media would be protected after 90 days if earlier reports did not lead to significant corrective action. The bill would define who is covered and would void any contract clause that stops a provider from speaking about safety. It would also free a reporter from a non‑compete tied to the facility and treat retaliation by staff or contractors as the facility’s responsibility, while letting the facility seek indemnity from staffing firms or contractors.
Sponsors & CoSponsors
Sponsor
Scanlon, Mary Gay [D-PA-5]
PA • D
Cosponsors
There are no cosponsors for this bill.
Roll Call Votes
No roll call votes available for this bill.
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