SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1766        FILED ON: 1/21/2011

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1150

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Richard T. Moore

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to improve the delivery of health care.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

Richard T. Moore

 

William N. Brownsberger

 

Cory Atkins

14th Middlesex

Bruce E. Tarr

 

Martha M. Walz

8th Suffolk

Michael O. Moore

 

James B. Eldridge

 

Susan C. Fargo

 

Mark C. Montigny

 

Joyce A. Spiliotis

12th Essex

Karen E. Spilka

 


SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1766        FILED ON: 1/21/2011

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 1150

By Mr. Moore, petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 1150) of Richard T. Moore, William N. Brownsberger, Cory Atkins, Bruce E. Tarr and other members of the General Court for legislation to improve the delivery of health care [Joint Committee on Public Health].

 

[SIMILAR MATTER FILED IN PREVIOUS SESSION
SEE SENATE, NO. 878 OF 2009-2010.]

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the Year Two Thousand Eleven

_______________

 

An Act to improve the delivery of health care.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

                SECTION 1.  Chapter 111 of the General Laws is hereby amended by inserting after section 53G the following section:–

                Section 53H. 

                As used in this section the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:-

                “Checklist of Care”, steps to be taken by a team of healthcare providers to decrease patient harm during a given procedure.

                “Medical error”, the failure of medical management of a planned action to be completed as intended or the use of a wrong plan to achieve an outcome.

                The Department of Public Health shall promulgate regulations for the development and implementation of checklists of care that hospitals shall use to prevent medical errors and reduce healthcare-associated infection rates.  The department may require hospitals to report annually on their use of the checklists.  The department shall promulgate regulations to enforce the provisions of this section no later than December 31, 2012.