New Mexico 2025 Regular Session

New Mexico House Bill HB374 Compare Versions

Only one version of the bill is available at this time.

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28	28	HOUSE BILL 374
29	29	57
30	30	TH LEGISLATURE
31	31	-
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33	33	STATE
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35	35	OF
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37	37	NEW
38	38
39	39	MEXICO
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41	41	-
42	42	FIRST SESSION
43	43	,
44	44
45	45	2025
46	46	INTRODUCED BY
47	47	Gail Armstrong and Mark Duncan and Harlan Vincent
48	48	AN ACT
49	49	RELATING TO MEDICAL MALPRACTICE; AMENDING THE DEFINITION OF
50	50	"OCCURRENCE" IN THE MEDICAL MALPRACTICE ACT.
51	51	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
52	52	SECTION 1. Section 41-5-3 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1976,
53	53	Chapter 2, Section 3, as amended) is amended to read:
54	54	"41-5-3. DEFINITIONS.--As used in the Medical Malpractice
55	55	Act:
56	56	A. "advisory board" means the patient's
57	57	compensation fund advisory board;
58	58	B. "control" means equity ownership in a business
59	59	entity that:
60	60	(1) represents more than fifty percent of the
61	61	total voting power of the business entity; or
62	62	(2) has a value of more than fifty percent of
63	63	.229885.2 underscored material = new
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90	90	that business entity;
91	91	C. "fund" means the patient's compensation fund;
92	92	D. "health care provider" means a person,
93	93	corporation, organization, facility or institution licensed or
94	94	certified by this state to provide health care or professional
95	95	services as a doctor of medicine, hospital, outpatient health
96	96	care facility, doctor of osteopathy, chiropractor, [podiatrist ]
97	97	podiatric physician, nurse anesthetist, physician's assistant,
98	98	certified nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist or
99	99	certified nurse-midwife or a business entity that is organized,
100	100	incorporated or formed pursuant to the laws of New Mexico that
101	101	provides health care services primarily through natural persons
102	102	identified in this subsection. "Health care provider" does not
103	103	mean a person or entity protected pursuant to the Tort Claims
104	104	Act or the Federal Tort Claims Act;
105	105	E. "hospital" means a facility licensed as a
106	106	hospital in this state that offers in-patient services, nursing
107	107	or overnight care on a twenty-four-hour basis for diagnosing,
108	108	treating and providing medical, psychological or surgical care
109	109	for three or more separate persons who have a physical or
110	110	mental illness, disease, injury or rehabilitative condition or
111	111	are pregnant and may offer emergency services. "Hospital"
112	112	includes a hospital's parent corporation, subsidiary
113	113	corporations or affiliates if incorporated or registered in New
114	114	Mexico; employees and locum tenens providing services at the
115	115	.229885.2
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143	143	hospital; and agency nurses providing services at the hospital.
144	144	"Hospital" does not mean a person or entity protected pursuant
145	145	to the Tort Claims Act or the Federal Tort Claims Act;
146	146	F. "independent outpatient health care facility"
147	147	means a health care facility that is an ambulatory surgical
148	148	center, urgent care facility or free-standing emergency room
149	149	that is not, directly or indirectly through one or more
150	150	intermediaries, controlled or under common control with a
151	151	hospital. "Independent outpatient health care facility"
152	152	includes a facility's employees, locum tenens providers and
153	153	agency nurses providing services at the facility. "Independent
154	154	outpatient health care facility" does not mean a person or
155	155	entity protected pursuant to the Tort Claims Act or the Federal
156	156	Tort Claims Act;
157	157	G. "independent provider" means a doctor of
158	158	medicine, doctor of osteopathy, chiropractor, [podiatrist ]
159	159	podiatric physician, nurse anesthetist, physician's assistant,
160	160	certified nurse practitioner, clinical nurse specialist or
161	161	certified nurse-midwife who is not an employee of a hospital or
162	162	outpatient health care facility. "Independent provider" does
163	163	not mean a person or entity protected pursuant to the Tort
164	164	Claims Act or the Federal Tort Claims Act. "Independent
165	165	provider" includes:
166	166	(1) a health care facility that is:
167	167	(a) licensed pursuant to the Public
168	168	.229885.2
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196	196	Health Act as an outpatient facility;
197	197	(b) not an ambulatory surgical center,
198	198	urgent care facility or free-standing emergency room; and
199	199	(c) not hospital-controlled; and
200	200	(2) a business entity that is not a hospital
201	201	or outpatient health care facility that employs or consists of
202	202	members who are licensed or certified as doctors of medicine,
203	203	doctors of osteopathy, chiropractors, [podiatrists ] podiatric
204	204	physicians, nurse anesthetists, physician's assistants,
205	205	certified nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists or
206	206	certified nurse-midwives and the business entity's employees;
207	207	H. "insurer" means an insurance company engaged in
208	208	writing health care provider malpractice liability insurance in
209	209	this state;
210	210	I. "malpractice claim" includes any cause of action
211	211	arising in this state against a health care provider for
212	212	medical treatment, lack of medical treatment or other claimed
213	213	departure from accepted standards of health care that
214	214	proximately results in injury to the patient, whether the
215	215	patient's claim or cause of action sounds in tort or contract,
216	216	and includes but is not limited to actions based on battery or
217	217	wrongful death; "malpractice claim" does not include a cause of
218	218	action arising out of the driving, flying or nonmedical acts
219	219	involved in the operation, use or maintenance of a vehicular or
220	220	aircraft ambulance;
221	221	.229885.2
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249	249	J. "medical care and related benefits" means all
250	250	reasonable medical, surgical, physical rehabilitation and
251	251	custodial services and includes drugs, prosthetic devices and
252	252	other similar materials reasonably necessary in the provision
253	253	of such services;
254	254	K. "occurrence" means all [injuries to a patient
255	255	caused by health care providers' successive acts or omissions
256	256	that combined concurrently to create a malpractice claim ]
257	257	claims for damages from all persons arising from harm to a
258	258	single patient, no matter how many health care providers,
259	259	errors or omissions contributed to the harm ;
260	260	L. "outpatient health care facility" means an
261	261	entity that is hospital-controlled and is licensed pursuant to
262	262	the Public Health Act as an outpatient facility, including
263	263	ambulatory surgical centers, free-standing emergency rooms,
264	264	urgent care clinics, acute care centers and intermediate care
265	265	facilities and includes a facility's employees, locum tenens
266	266	providers and agency nurses providing services at the facility.
267	267	"Outpatient health care facility" does not include:
268	268	(1) independent providers;
269	269	(2) independent outpatient health care
270	270	facilities; or
271	271	(3) individuals or entities protected pursuant
272	272	to the Tort Claims Act or the Federal Tort Claims Act;
273	273	M. "patient" means a natural person who received or
274	274	.229885.2
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302	302	should have received health care from a health care provider,
303	303	under a contract, express or implied; and
304	304	N. "superintendent" means the superintendent of
305	305	insurance."
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307	307	.229885.2