Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:Introduction to Health Care and Public Health in the U.S.
Unit:Regulating Health Care
Lecture:Legal Aspects of Medicine
Slide content:Innovative Tort Reform Safe harbor for adherence to practice guidelines based on the latest medical research More evidence needed to assess newer reform proposals Affordable Care Act authorizes $50 million in grants for projects that evaluate the effectiveness of newer tort reform proposals 21
Slide notes:A safe harbor law reduces or eliminates defendants liability if they can show that they followed a reasonable standard of care. One proposal is that health care professionals have a safe harbor if they follow evidence-based practice guidelines. These are typically published guidelines that are based on the latest medical research. The report to the Medicare commission concluded that there is not yet enough evidence to properly evaluate any of these newer reforms. However, the report said the existing evidence is promising enough to justify demonstration projects to gather more information. The Affordable Care Act authorizes fifty million dollars in grants to states to develop, implement, and evaluate alternatives to tort lawsuits. 21