Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2021
Latest action · May 11, 2021 Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
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 11, 2021
- Passed SenateNot reached
- Passed HouseNot reached
- To the PresidentNot reached
- Became lawNot reached
Summary
Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2021
This bill requires hospitals to implement and submit to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a staffing plan that complies with specified minimum nurse-to-patient ratios by unit. Hospitals must post a notice regarding nurse-to-patient ratios in each unit and maintain records of actual ratios for each shift in each unit. The bill also requires hospitals to follow certain procedures regarding how ratios are determined and other staff are prohibited from performing nurse functions unless specifically authorized within a state's scope of practice rules, among other requirements.
HHS must adjust Medicare payments to hospitals to cover additional costs attributable to compliance with these ratios.
Nurses may object to, or refuse to participate in, an assignment if it would violate minimum ratios or if they are not prepared by education or experience to fulfill the assignment without compromising the safety of a patient or jeopardizing their nurse's license. Hospitals may not (1) take adverse actions against a nurse based on the nurse's reasonable refusal to accept an assignment; or (2) discriminate against individuals for good faith complaints relating to the care, services, or conditions of the hospital or related facilities. HHS may impose civil monetary penalties on hospitals violating the ratio requirements and must publish the names of such hospitals.
The bill provides stipends to the nurse workforce loan repayment and scholarship program and expands the nurse retention grant program to include nurse preceptorship and mentorship projects.
Cosponsors 6
Members who signed on, in the order they did. Signatures ran from May 11, 2021 to Jun 7, 2022, with 5 there on the day it was introduced.
| Seat | Cosponsor | Signed on | |
|---|---|---|---|
| D-CA | Alex Padilla | Original | May 11, 2021 |
| D-MD | Chris Van Hollen | Original | May 11, 2021 |
| D-MA | Edward J. Markey | Original | May 11, 2021 |
| D-MA | Elizabeth Warren | Original | May 11, 2021 |
| D-WI | Tammy Baldwin | Original | May 11, 2021 |
| D-MI | Debbie Stabenow | Jun 7, 2022 |
Actions 2
Everything that happened, newest first.
- May 11, 2021Introduced in Senate
- May 11, 2021Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Related bills 1
Companion bills and other measures the record links to this one.
| Bill | Title | Relationship | Latest action |
|---|---|---|---|
| HR 3165 | Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2021 | Related bill | May 13, 2021 |
Subjects
Assigned by the Library of Congress. Policy area: Health.
- Administrative law and regulatory procedures
- Civil actions and liability
- Department of Health and Human Services
- Employment discrimination and employee rights
- Government employee pay, benefits, personnel management
- Government information and archives
- Government studies and investigations
- Health
- Health care quality
- Health facilities and institutions
- Health information and medical records
- Health personnel
- Health programs administration and funding
- Health technology, devices, supplies
- Hospital care
- Indian social and development programs
- Labor-management relations
- Medicaid
- Medical education
- Medicare
- Military medicine
- Minority health
- Nursing
- Student aid and college costs
- Veterans' medical care
Text 1
Each version as it was printed, newest first.
- May 11, 2021Introduced in Senate
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.