- The Honorable Diana DeGette, Chair
Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations
United States House of Representatives
2111 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515 - The Honorable Morgan Griffith, Ranking Member
Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations
United States House of Representatives
2202 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Subject: Future Pandemic Preparation
Dear Chairwoman DeGette & Ranking Member Griffith:
On behalf of the Health Coalition on Liability and Access (HCLA), a diverse coalition of medical professionals, associations and other stakeholders working to reduce medical lawsuit abuse and improve timely access to quality care, we would like to commend you for the recent Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations hearing entitled “Lessons from the Frontline: COVID-19s Impact on American Healthcare.”
As we have learned from COVID-19, it is critical to ensure any future pandemic or public health emergency does not result in a shortage of available health care professionals. To address this, we strongly urge you to include the Good Samaritan Health Professionals Act of 2021 (H.R.5239) in any future legislation regarding pandemic response. This legislation would provide medical liability protections for volunteer health care professionals providing health care services in response to a public health emergency or federally declared disaster. The bill removes the threat of unwarranted lawsuits, which may deter qualified individuals from volunteering while respecting existing medical liability laws in individual states. Additionally, the bill is narrowly tailored to apply its protections only to licensed health care providers and does not apply if the harm caused was criminal or deliberate. Similar language was included in the CARES Act to protect volunteers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Expanding that language to cover future public health emergencies and disasters will speed those response efforts and increase access to care when needed most.
Click here to read the full Neurosurgery-Led Coalition Urges House to Adopt Pandemic-Related Liability Protections.
