New Mexico 2025 Regular Session

New Mexico Senate Bill SB121 Compare Versions

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

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28	28	SENATE BILL 121
29	29	57TH LEGISLATURE - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - FIRST SESSION, 2025
30	30	INTRODUCED BY
31	31	George K. Muñoz
32	32	AN ACT
33	33	RELATING TO MEDICAL MALPRACTICE; PROVIDING IMMUNITY FROM
34	34	LIABILITY TO THE THIRD-PARTY ADMINISTRATOR THAT ADMINISTERS THE
35	35	PATIENT'S COMPENSATION FUND.
36	36	BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
37	37	SECTION 1. Section 41-5-25 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1992,
38	38	Chapter 33, Section 9, as amended) is amended to read:
39	39	"41-5-25. PATIENT'S COMPENSATION FUND--THIRD-PARTY
40	40	ADMINISTRATOR--ACTUARIAL STUDIES--SURCHARGES--CLAIMS--
41	41	PRORATION--PROOFS OF AUTHENTICITY.--
42	42	A. The "patient's compensation fund" is created as
43	43	a nonreverting fund in the state treasury. The fund consists
44	44	of money from surcharges, income from investment of the fund
45	45	and any other money deposited to the credit of the fund. The
46	46	fund shall be held in trust, deposited in a segregated account
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74	74	in the state treasury and invested by the state investment
75	75	office and shall not become a part of or revert to the general
76	76	fund or any other fund of the state. Money from the fund shall
77	77	be expended only for the purposes of and to the extent provided
78	78	in the Medical Malpractice Act. All approved expenses of
79	79	collecting, protecting and administering the fund, including
80	80	purchasing insurance for the fund, shall be paid from the fund.
81	81	B. The superintendent shall contract for the
82	82	administration and operation of the fund with a qualified,
83	83	licensed third-party administrator, selected in consultation
84	84	with the advisory board, no later than January 1, 2022. The
85	85	third-party administrator shall provide an annual audit of the
86	86	fund to the superintendent. The third-party administrator
87	87	shall have the same immunity from liability as the
88	88	superintendent for actions taken within the scope of the duties
89	89	prescribed by the Medical Malpractice Act.
90	90	C. The superintendent, as custodian of the fund,
91	91	and the third-party administrator shall be notified by the
92	92	health care provider or the health care provider's insurer
93	93	within thirty days of service on the health care provider of a
94	94	complaint asserting a malpractice claim brought in a court in
95	95	this state against the health care provider.
96	96	D. The superintendent shall levy an annual
97	97	surcharge on all New Mexico health care providers qualifying
98	98	under Section 41-5-5 NMSA 1978. The surcharge shall be
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127	127	determined by the superintendent with the advice of the
128	128	advisory board and based on the annual independent actuarial
129	129	study of the fund. The surcharges for health care providers,
130	130	including hospitals and outpatient health care facilities whose
131	131	qualifications for the fund end on January 1, 2027, shall be
132	132	based on sound actuarial principles, using data obtained from
133	133	New Mexico claims and loss experience. A hospital or
134	134	outpatient health care facility seeking participation in the
135	135	fund during the remaining qualifying years shall provide, at a
136	136	minimum, the hospital's or outpatient health care facility's
137	137	direct and indirect cost information as reported to the federal
138	138	centers for medicare and medicaid services for all self-insured
139	139	malpractice claims, including claims and paid loss detail, and
140	140	the claims and paid loss detail from any professional liability
141	141	insurance carriers for each hospital or outpatient health care
142	142	facility and each employed health care provider for the past
143	143	eight years to the third-party actuary. The same information
144	144	shall be available to the advisory board for review, including
145	145	financial information and data, and excluding individually
146	146	identifying case information, which information shall not be
147	147	subject to the Inspection of Public Records Act. The
148	148	superintendent, the third-party actuary or the advisory board
149	149	shall not use or disclose the information for any purpose other
150	150	than to fulfill the duties pursuant to this subsection.
151	151	E. The surcharge shall be collected on the same
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180	180	basis as premiums by each insurer from the health care
181	181	provider. The surcharge shall be due and payable within thirty
182	182	days after the premiums for malpractice liability insurance
183	183	have been received by the insurer from the health care provider
184	184	in New Mexico. If the surcharge is collected but not paid
185	185	timely, the superintendent may suspend the certificate of
186	186	authority of the insurer until the annual premium surcharge is
187	187	paid.
188	188	F. Surcharges shall be set by October 31 of each
189	189	year for the next calendar year. Beginning in 2021, the
190	190	surcharges shall be set with the intention of bringing the fund
191	191	to solvency with no projected deficit by December 31, 2026.
192	192	All qualified and participating hospitals and outpatient health
193	193	care facilities shall cure any fund deficit attributable to
194	194	hospitals and outpatient health care facilities by December 31,
195	195	2026.
196	196	G. If the fund would be exhausted by payment of all
197	197	claims allowed during a particular calendar year, then the
198	198	amounts paid to each patient and other parties obtaining
199	199	judgments shall be prorated, with each such party receiving an
200	200	amount equal to the percentage the party's own payment schedule
201	201	bears to the total of payment schedules outstanding and payable
202	202	by the fund. Any amounts due and unpaid as a result of such
203	203	proration shall be paid in the following calendar years.
204	204	H. Upon receipt of one of the proofs of
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233	233	authenticity listed in this subsection, reflecting a judgment
234	234	for damages rendered pursuant to the Medical Malpractice Act,
235	235	the superintendent shall issue or have issued warrants in
236	236	accordance with the payment schedule constructed by the court
237	237	and made a part of its final judgment. The only claim against
238	238	the fund shall be a voucher or other appropriate request by the
239	239	superintendent after the superintendent receives:
240	240	(1) until January 1, 2022, a certified copy of
241	241	a final judgment in excess of two hundred thousand dollars
242	242	($200,000) against a health care provider;
243	243	(2) until January 1, 2022, a certified copy of
244	244	a court-approved settlement or certification of settlement made
245	245	prior to initiating suit, signed by both parties, in excess of
246	246	two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000) against a health care
247	247	provider; or
248	248	(3) until January 1, 2022, a certified copy of
249	249	a final judgment less than two hundred thousand dollars
250	250	($200,000) and an affidavit of a health care provider or its
251	251	insurer attesting that payments made pursuant to Subsection B
252	252	of Section 41-5-7 NMSA 1978, combined with the monetary
253	253	recovery, exceed two hundred thousand dollars ($200,000).
254	254	I. On or after January 1, 2022, the amounts
255	255	specified in Paragraphs (1) through (3) of Subsection H of this
256	256	section shall be two hundred fifty thousand dollars
257	257	($250,000)."
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