Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2007
Latest action · May 15, 2007 Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Progress
Where this bill reached, and when. A stage with no date was not reached; one that failed a vote and later carried shows the date it carried.
- IntroducedMay 3, 2007
- Passed HouseNot reached
- Passed SenateNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2007 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to require hospitals to implement staffing plans that meet specified ratios for direct care registered nurse-to-patient staffing levels for each unit and other requirements, including for receiving input from nurses. Allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to further limit such ratios as needed to ensure public safety and to establish ratios for units not specified. Provides an exception to such staffing requirements for a declared state of emergency. Requires hospitals to provide the Secretary with their staffing plan and annual updates. Requires the Secretary to conduct audits to ensure the implementation of adequate staffing plans.
Requires the Secretary: (1) acting through the Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), to complete a study of licensed practical nurse staffing and its effects on patient care in hospitals; and (2) to establish requirements for hospitals based on the outcome of the study.
Requires the Secretary to adjust payments to cover additional Medicare costs that are attributable to this Act. Requires the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission to submit to Congress and the Secretary a report estimating total costs and savings attributable to compliance with nurse staffing requirements.
Provides nurses with the right to refuse to accept assignments that would violate staffing requirements or for which they are not prepared. Prohibits retaliation by hospitals for such refusals or for reporting violations of staffing requirements.
Cosponsors 56
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 3, 2007 to Jul 31, 2008, with 9 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-PA | Allyson Y. Schwartz | Original | May 3, 2007 |
| D-NY | Carolyn McCarthy | Original | May 3, 2007 |
| D-NY | Charles B. Rangel | Original | May 3, 2007 |
| D-OH | Dennis J. Kucinich | Original | May 3, 2007 |
| D-NY | Edolphus Towns | Original | May 3, 2007 |
| D-CA | Fortney Pete Stark | Original | May 3, 2007 |
| D-MN | James L. Oberstar | Original | May 3, 2007 |
| D-NY | Jerrold Nadler | Original | May 3, 2007 |
| D-AZ | Raúl M. Grijalva | Original | May 3, 2007 |
| D-NY | Gregory W. Meeks | Jun 20, 2007 | |
| D-TX | Eddie Bernice Johnson | Jun 28, 2007 | |
| D-FL | Alcee L. Hastings | Sep 5, 2007 | |
| D-MN | Betty McCollum | Sep 5, 2007 | |
| D-FL | Kendrick B. Meek | Sep 5, 2007 | |
| D-HI | Neil Abercrombie | Sep 5, 2007 |
Actions 4
Everything that happened, newest first.
- May 15, 2007Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
- May 3, 2007Introduced in House
- May 3, 2007Referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
- May 3, 2007Referred to the Subcommittee on Health.
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.
- Administrative procedure
- Armed Forces and National Security
- Case mix (Medical care)
- Civil actions and liability
- Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
- Commerce
- Congressional reporting requirements
- Consumer education
- Cost effectiveness
- Damages
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Disciplining of employees
- Discrimination in employment
- Dismissal of employees
- Economics and Public Finance
- Emergency Management
- Emergency medicine
- Employee rights
- Federal preemption
- Government Operations and Politics
- Government paperwork
- Governmental investigations
- Grievance procedures
- Health
- Health planning
- Hospital care
- Hospital personnel
- Hospital rates
- Hospitals
- Indian medical care
- Labor and Employment
- Law
- Legal fees
- Licenses
- Medicaid
- Medical records
- Medical technology
- Medicare
- Military medicine
- Minorities
- Native Americans
- Nurses
- Quality of care
- Science, Technology, Communications
- Signs and signboards
- Social Welfare
- Standards
- State laws
- Veterans' hospitals
- Wage restitution
- Whistle blowing
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- May 3, 2007Introduced in House
Everything here is as published by Congress: the summary is the Congressional Research Service's, the action wording is the clerks', and the subjects are the Library of Congress's. How far it got is read from the actions themselves, taking the most recent one of each kind, so a bill that failed a vote and later passed is shown as having passed. Records come from this bill on Congress.gov and govinfo.gov.