I 

109TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1546

To provide grants to States for health care tribunals, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

APRIL 12, 2005

Mr. THORNBERRY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL

To provide grants to States for health care tribunals, and 

for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Medical Liability Pro5 cedural Reform Act of 2005’’. 

6 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR HEALTH CARE TRIBUNALS. 

7 (a) GRANTS AUTHORIZED.—The Attorney General 

8 may award grants to States for the development, imple9 mentation, and evaluation of health care tribunals. 

10 (b) DURATION.—The Attorney General may award 

11 up to 7 grants under subsection (a) and each grant award-
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1 ed under such subsection may not exceed a period of 10 

2 years. 

3 (c) APPLICATION.—Each State desiring a grant 

4 under subsection (a) shall submit to the Attorney General 

5 an application, at such time, in such manner, and con6 taining such information as the Attorney General may re7 quire. 

8 (d) REPORT.—Each State receiving a grant under 

9 subsection (a) shall submit to the Attorney General a re10 port evaluating the effectiveness of activities funded with 

11 grants awarded under such subsection at such time and 

12 in such manner as the Attorney General may require. 

13 (e) TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE.—The Attorney General 

14 shall provide technical assistance to the States awarded 

15 grants under subsection (a). Such technical assistance 

16 shall include the development, in consultation with States, 

17 of common definitions, formats, and data collection infra18 structure for States receiving grants under this section to 

19 use in reporting to facilitate aggregation and analysis of 

20 data both within and between States. The technical assist21 ance shall also include guidance about identification and 

22 selection of health care tribunal judges and independent 

23 expert witnesses, compensation of injured patients, and 

24 clinical resources relating to the standard of care. States 

25 not receiving grants under this section may also use such 
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1 common definitions, formats, data collection infrastruc2 ture, and other guidance from the Attorney General per3 taining to health care tribunals. 

4 (f) EVALUATION.—

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General shall 

6 enter into a contract with an appropriate research 

7 organization to conduct an overall evaluation of the 

8 effectiveness of grants awarded under subsection (a) 

9 and to annually prepare and submit a report to the 

10 appropriate committees of Congress. Such an eval11 uation shall begin not later than 18 months fol12 lowing the date of implementation of the first pro13 gram funded by a grant under subsection (a). 

14 (2) CONTENTS.—The evaluation under para15 graph (1) shall include an analysis of the effect of 

16 the grants awarded under subsection (a) on—

17 (A) the number, nature, and costs of 

18 health care liability claims; 

19 (B) the liability environment; 

20 (C) health care quality; and 

21 (D) patient safety. 

22 (g) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

23 (1) HEALTH CARE TRIBUNAL.—The term 

24 ‘‘health care tribunal’’ means a trial court or admin25 istrative tribunal—
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1 (A) the sole function of which is for the 

2 adjudication of disputes over injuries allegedly 

3 caused by health care providers; 

4 (B) to which all or a portion of such dis5 putes within a jurisdiction are assigned; 

6 (C) the decisions of which are final, bind7 ing, and appealable; and 

8 (D) the judges for which have health care 

9 expertise and render decisions about the stand10 ard of care in dispute adjudication, with reli11 ance on independent expert witnesses commis12 sioned by the court. 

13 (2) HEALTH CARE PROVIDER.—The term 

14 ‘‘health care provider’’ means any individual or enti15 ty licensed, registered, or certified under Federal or 

16 State laws or regulations to provide health care serv17 ices, but does not include any manufacturer of drugs 

18 or devices. 

19 (h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

20 are authorized to be appropriated to carry out this section 

21 such sums as may be necessary. Amounts appropriated 

22 pursuant to this subsection shall remain available until ex23 pended.

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