Bill > H1990

This bill aims to grant greater autonomy to hospital medical staffs, which are composed of physicians and other healthcare professionals privileged to treat patients in a hospital. It defines a "Governing Board" as the equivalent of a hospital's Board of Trustees or Directors, but clarifies that a board overseeing multiple hospitals cannot serve this role for individual hospitals. The bill emphasizes that while a Governing Board has ultimate authority for hospital governance and business, it should only intervene in medical staff matters if there's a reasonable belief the medical staff has failed in its responsibilities regarding patient care quality, and that such intervention should not be done precipitously, unreasonably, or in bad faith. The core of the bill establishes the medical staff's right to self-governance, which includes setting membership and privilege criteria, overseeing quality assurance and utilization review, selecting officers, managing dues, retaining independent legal counsel, and developing their own bylaws, rules, and regulations, subject to reasonable approval by the Governing Board. It also ensures that medical staff bylaws protect the right of all credentialed physicians involved in patient care to have a voice and vote in self-governance, fostering a representative democracy within the medical staff. In case of disputes, the bill mandates good-faith meetings between the medical staff and Governing Board, and allows the Superior Court to intervene with relief, including injunctions, if reasonable efforts to resolve the issue fail.