PATIENT Act

Policies to Address Tragic Injuries Enabled by Never events Thoroughly Act or the PATIENT Act

This bill directs the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), through the Veterans Health Administration (VHA), the National Surgery Office, and the National Center for Patient Safety, to develop: (1) a system-wide plan to decrease never events that incorporates technological tools; and (2) an operating room fire safety plan that requires the reporting of operating room fires, the inclusion of certain directives to mitigate fire-related risks, and a pilot project that tests new operating room fire safety technology at multiple VHA medical facilities.

"Never event" means an event involving the delivery of (or failure to deliver) hospital care or medical services at a VA medical facility in which there is a serious error in patient care or services that is identifiable, usually preventable, and that indicates a deficiency in the safety and process controls with respect to the physician or medical facility involved. Such term includes operating room fires.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 3752 Introduced in House (IH)]

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115th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 3752

 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop and implement 
plans to improve the safety of medical facilities of the Department of 
               Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                           September 12, 2017

Mr. Norcross (for himself and Mr. Costello of Pennsylvania) introduced 
 the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans' 
                                Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to develop and implement 
plans to improve the safety of medical facilities of the Department of 
               Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Policies to Address Tragic Injuries 
Enabled by Never events Thoroughly Act'' or the ``PATIENT Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds the following:
            (1) Never events continue to occur in the health care 
        system of the Department of Veterans Affairs and remain a 
        growing source of patient morbidity.
            (2) Despite their importance, never events seem to persist 
        as an unsettled issue across the Nation.
            (3) In 2016, a national survey announced that ``One in Five 
        U.S. Hospitals Fail to Adopt Crucial Never Events Policies.''.
            (4) The Department lacks a mandated reporting system for 
        never events that would help quantify this problem.
            (5) Never events, such as operating room fires, including 
        those caused by unsafe laser fiber practices, pose serious 
        risks, such as injuries or burns that can be severe and 
        permanent, to both patients and health care professionals.
            (6) The Department does not currently have a comprehensive 
        operating room fire safety policy in place to improve operating 
        room safety.

SEC. 3. IMPROVEMENT OF SAFETY AT MEDICAL FACILITIES OF THE DEPARTMENT 
              OF VETERANS AFFAIRS.

    (a) Plans.--The Secretary of Veterans Affairs, acting through the 
Veterans Health Administration, the National Surgery Office, and the 
National Center for Patient Safety, shall develop and implement the 
following:
            (1) A comprehensive, system-wide plan to decrease never 
        events that incorporates technological tools.
            (2) A comprehensive operating room fire safety plan that 
        requires--
                    (A) the reporting of operating room fires;
                    (B) the inclusion of the directives outlined in the 
                2011 fire safety alert of the Food and Drug 
                Administration to mitigate risks relating to fires; and
                    (C) the carrying out of a pilot project that tests 
                and validates new operating room fire safety technology 
                at multiple medical facilities of the Veterans Health 
                Administration.
    (b) Report.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the enactment 
of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs shall submit to Congress 
a report containing the plans developed under subsection (a).

SEC. 4. NEVER EVENT DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``never event'' means an event involving the 
delivery of (or failure to deliver) hospital care or medical services 
furnished at a medical facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs 
in which there is an error in the care or services that is clearly 
identifiable, usually preventable, and serious in consequences to 
patients, and that indicates a deficiency in the safety and process 
controls of the care or services furnished with respect to the 
physician or medical facility involved. Such term includes operating 
room fires.
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