RESOLUTION 63-09-11, 2006: Resolutions on Patients' Safety
AAPS General Assembly, September 2006

Submitted by Gil Mileikowsky, M.D.

WHEREAS: AAPS supports fair and unbiased peer review in the interest of improving the safety and quality of patient care, and;

WHEREAS: the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) of 1986 has created an environment in which those who conduct or participate in sham peer review (bad faith peer review) enjoy substantial immunity, and;

WHEREAS: substantive due process in peer review corrective actions is often lacking in the hospital setting, and;

WHEREAS: physicians who raise quality of care concerns in the hospital setting are often targeted for retaliation via sham peer review, and careers are often ruined as a result, and;

WHEREAS: in recognition of the fact that sham peer review is a growing problem nationwide;

WHEREAS: AAPS condemns the practice of sham peer review; and

WHEREAS: HCQIA denies a physician due process protections guaranteed any other citizen of the United States under our Constitution.

RESOLUTION 63-09: PATIENTS� SAFETY PART A: AMENDMENT TO FEDERAL HEALTH CARE AND SAFETY CODE

BE IT RESOLVED THAT: AAPS supports that the Federal Health Care and Safety Code require that all healthcare facilities, private or public, receiving Federal funds, including but not limited to Medicare and Medicaid, must comply with the Federal Constitution including all Amendments.

RESOLUTION 63-10: PATIENTS� SAFETY PART B: WHISTLEBLOWER PROTECTION FOR ALL PHYSICIANS

BE IT RESOLVED THAT: AAPS urges Congress , all state legislatures, and all state medical boards to extend existing physicians� �Whistleblower� and �Patient Advocate� protections to all physicians in the country, not just to those who are employees of hospitals, managed care organizations, States, and federal institutions.

RESOLUTION 63-11: PATIENTS� SAFETY PART C: SHAM PEER REVIEW

BE IT RESOLVED THAT: AAPS urges Congress to rescind the following paragraph in the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986: