National Patient's Bill of Rights?

Is there, in fact, a Federal Patient Bill of Rights, enforceable law, in effect currently?

It's like crossing the street. A pedestrian has the right of way, however, the law doesn't actually protect you in any way from potentially being hit.

Likewise, when receiving health care you must take responsibility and be focused every step of the way.

There have been many, many attempts to codify a "Patient's Bill of

Rights." The American Hospital Association created one in the 1970's,

but it did not have any force of law. The AMA created one, and it too

does not have the force of law.

Http://info.med.yale.edu/caim/risk/patie...



Under the Clinton Administration, the US Advisory Commission on

Consumer Protection and Quality in the Health Care Industry imposed

what they called a "Patient's Bill of Rights," but it covered ONLY

patients being treated under Medicaid and Medicare.

See http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/1999pres/9... efforts, however, are not codified into Federal Law.



In 2001, Senators McCain, Edwards, and Kennedy introduced what they

called the "Bipartisan Patients Bill of Rights" in the Senate. That

bill passed the Senate, but went nowhere in the House. The House

proposed two different bills, neither of which went anywhere either.

Http://democrats.senate.gov/pbr/summary....

http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS...

http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section...



The Democrats in the House tried again in 2004, but the bill never

even got to the floor.

Http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...



Note: None of this should be confused with the Emergency Medical

Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), which was passed as part of

the COBRA legislation in 1986. EMTALA is sometimes referred to as the

鈥渁nti-dumping law,鈥?and it prohibits hospitals that participate in

Medicare from refusing to see patients in an emergency because of

inability to pay.

Http://www.emtala.com/faq.htm

Although it offers certain protections to patients, it has never been

considered a "Patient's Bill of Rights."



You are correct that Maine has enacted its own "Patients' Bill of

Rights." Enacted in 1999-2000, this bill revised numerous sections of

the Maine Revised Statutes relating to health care and Managed Care

Organizations. Among other things, it requires MCOs to provide

reasonable access to health care to its members, including those

living in rural areas; established grievance procedures for members;

requires MCOs to provide members with standing referrals to

specialists; requires continuity of care in cases where a provider is

disenrolled, and establishes notice procedures for such continuity of

care; requires choice in primary care; requires access to clinical

trials; imposes additional requirements for pharmacy coverage for

those plans offering pharmacy coverage; provides for external review

of an MCO鈥檚 decisions; and provides for an independent cause of action

against MCO鈥檚.

Http://janus.state.me.us/legis/ros/lom/l...



However, to the extent that Maine grants patients the right to sue

their MCO鈥檚 directly, that law is superseded by the Supreme Court鈥檚

recent decision in _Aetna Health Inc. v. Davila_ (2004) 542 U.S. ____,

holding that such state laws are pre-empted by ERISA (Federal law).

Http://a257.g.akamaitech.net/7/257/2422/...