Text of
legislation filed by MMS for the 2015-16 session of the Massachusetts
Legislature:
SECTION 1. Chapter 111 of the General Laws is hereby
amended by inserting after section 57D the following new sections: --
Section 57E. Definitions.
(1) “Governing Board”
means the Board of Trustees, the Board of Directors or the equivalent, of an
individual hospital. A governing board of a corporation owning or controlling
multiple hospitals may not serve as a governing board for the purposes of this
section.
(2) “Hospital” means
any hospital licensed under section 51 of this chapter.
(3) “Medical staff”
means those physicians and other health care professionals who are privileged
to attend patients in a hospital.
Section 57F. Purpose.
The Legislature hereby finds and declares that:
(1) Providing quality
medical care in individual hospitals in the Commonwealth depends on the mutual
accountability, interdependence, and responsibility of the medical staff and
the hospital governing board for the proper performance of their respective
obligations;
(2) The final authority of a hospital’s governing board may be exercised
for the responsible governance of the hospital or for the hospital’s business,
but this final authority may only be exercised with a reasonable belief that
the medical staff has failed to fulfill a substantive responsibility in matters
pertaining to the quality of patient care;
(3) It would be a
violation of the medical staff’s self-governance and independent rights for the
hospital’s governing board to assume
a duty or responsibility of the medical staff precipitously, unreasonably, or
in bad faith;
(4) The specific
actions that would constitute bad faith or unreasonable action on the part of
either the medical staff or the hospital’s governing board will always be
fact-specific and cannot be precisely described in statute;
(5) The provisions
set forth in this section and sections 57E to 57G inclusive do nothing more
than provide for the basic independent rights and responsibilities of a
self-governing medical staff;
(6) Ultimately, a
successful relationship between a hospital’s medical staff and its governing
board depends on the mutual respect of each for the rights and responsibilities
of the other.
Section 57G.
Requirements.
(1) The medical
staff's right of self-governance shall include, but not be limited to, all of
the following:
(a) Establishing, in medical staff bylaws, rules,
or regulations, criteria and standards, consistent for medical staff membership
and privileges, and enforcing those criteria and standards;
(b) Establishing, in medical staff bylaws, rules,
or regulations, clinical criteria and standards to oversee and manage quality
assurance, utilization review, and other medical staff activities including,
but not limited to, periodic meetings of the medical staff and its committees and
departments and review and analysis of patient medical records;
(c) Selecting and removing medical staff
officers;
(d) Assessing medical staff dues and utilizing
the medical staff dues as appropriate for the purposes of the medical staff;
(e) The ability to retain and be represented by
independent legal counsel at the expense of the medical staff;
(f) Initiating,
developing, and adopting medical staff bylaws, rules, and regulations, and
amendments thereto, subject to the approval of the hospital’s governing board,
which approval shall not be unreasonably withheld.
(2) The medical
staff bylaws shall not interfere with the independent rights of the medical
staff to do any of the following, but shall set forth the procedures for:
(a) Selecting and removing
medical staff officers;
(b) Assessing medical
staff dues and utilizing the medical staff dues as appropriate for the purposes
of the medical staff;
(c) Establishing the
ability to retain and be represented by independent legal counsel at the
expense of the medical staff.
(d) Establishing the
ability of an existing med staff to reorganize and redefine its own governance
structure as appropriate.
(e) Establishing the ability of all properly licensed and
hospital credentialed physicians
involved in patient care to be eligible for a voice and vote in organized medical
staff self-governance.
(f) The formation of the medical staff as a representative
democracy where members personally participate with voice and vote in the decision
making and election of their representatives.
(3) With respect
to any dispute arising under this section, the medical staff and the hospital’s
governing board shall meet and confer in good faith to resolve the
dispute. Whenever any person or entity has
engaged in or is about to engage in any acts or practices that hinder,
restrict, or otherwise obstruct the ability of the medical staff to exercise
its rights, obligations, or responsibilities under this section, the Superior
Court, on application of the medical staff, and after determining that
reasonable efforts, including reasonable administrative remedies provided in
the medical staff bylaws, rules, or regulations, have failed to resolve the dispute,
may issue appropriate relief, including but not limited to injunctive relief
while the matter is under dispute.
SECTION 2. This Act shall take effect on October 1, 2015.
