Wisconsin 2023-2024 Regular Session

Wisconsin Assembly Bill AB775 Compare Versions

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

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3	3	2023 - 2024 LEGISLATURE
4	4	2023 ASSEMBLY BILL 775
5	5	December 8, 2023 - Introduced by Representatives HONG, J. ANDERSON, ANDRACA,
6	6	CLANCY, CONLEY, CONSIDINE, EMERSON, JACOBSON, JOERS, MADISON, MOORE
7	7	OMOKUNDE, NEUBAUER, PALMERI, RATCLIFF, SHELTON, SINICKI, STUBBS, SUBECK
8	8	and HAYWOOD, cosponsored by Senators ROYS, L. JOHNSON, AGARD, CARPENTER,
9	9	HESSELBEIN, LARSON, PFAFF, SMITH, SPREITZER, TAYLOR and WIRCH. Referred to
10	10	Committee on Health, Aging and Long-Term Care.
11	11	*AUTHORS SUBJECT TO CHANGE*
12	12	AN ACT to create 146.893 of the statutes; relating to: medically accurate
13	13	information.
14	14	Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
15	15	This bill creates a right and obligation for a health care provider to provide
16	16	medically accurate information to patients to whom the health care provider
17	17	provides medical care. The bill also creates a right for a patient to receive medically
18	18	accurate information from a health care provider. The bill prohibits any person,
19	19	including the state or any subdivision of the state, from interfering with or otherwise
20	20	diminishing the rights described under the bill related to medically accurate
21	21	information and from requiring in a procedure or treatment form information that
22	22	is not medically accurate. The bill further prohibits employment retribution based
23	23	upon a health care provider's exercise of the rights and obligations relating to the
24	24	provision of medically accurate information.
25	25	Under the bill, a patient or health care provider may file a civil action for a
26	26	violation related to the patient's right to accurate medical information. The bill
27	27	allows the person to seek, in addition to injunctive relief and punitive damages,
28	28	compensatory damages that reflect his or her actual damages or statutory damages
29	29	of $5,000 per violation.
30	30	A statutory damages option of $20,000 per violation is available to a health care
31	31	provider who files a civil action after experiencing employment retribution for his or
32	32	her provision of medical care, after being prevented from providing medically
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36	36	ASSEMBLY BILL 775
37	37	accurate information to a patient, or after being required to provide medically
38	38	inaccurate information to a patient.
39	39	The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
40	40	enact as follows:
41	41	SECTION 1. 146.893 of the statutes is created to read:
42	42	146.893 Patient rights to medically accurate information. (1)
43	43	DEFINITIONS. In this section:
44	44	(a) “Health care provider” has the meaning given in s. 146.81 (1).
45	45	(b) “Leading professional medical organization” means an entity widely
46	46	regarded as the leading organization or association within its field serving a single
47	47	profession, or a specialty within a single profession, that possesses a primary
48	48	standing in that profession and requires of its members a significant amount of
49	49	education, training, or experience, or a license or certificate from a state or
50	50	authorized private authority to practice the profession or specialty.
51	51	(c) “Medically accurate information" means information relevant to informed
52	52	decision making verified or supported by the weight of peer-reviewed medical
53	53	research conducted in compliance with accepted scientific methods; recognized as
54	54	medically sound and objective by leading professional medical organizations with
55	55	relevant expertise, such as the American Medical Association, the American
56	56	Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Public Health
57	57	Association, the American Psychological Association, the American Academy of
58	58	Pediatrics, the American College of Physicians, and the American Academy of
59	59	Family Physicians, or by government agencies such as the federal centers for disease
60	60	control and prevention, the federal food and drug administration, the national
61	61	cancer institute, and the national institutes of health, or by scientific advisory groups
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85	85	SECTION 1
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87	87	including the Institute of Medicine and the Advisory Committee on Immunization
88	88	Practices; or recommended by or affirmed in the medical practice guidelines of a
89	89	nationally recognized accrediting organization.
90	90	(d) “Patient” has the meaning given in s. 146.81 (3).
91	91	(e) “Procedure or treatment form” means any information a patient receives
92	92	relating to giving consent to a procedure or treatment the patient may elect to
93	93	proceed with, whether in a brochure, a notice, a posting, an agreement, or other
94	94	document, provided in writing, electronically, or by video, without regard to whether
95	95	or not the communication requires a signature.
96	96	(f) “Scientific advisory group” means, in the context of providing medically
97	97	accurate information to patients, a group that is recognized as an authoritative
98	98	scientific source by the medical profession and consists of knowledgeable, prominent,
99	99	and credible members in their field of expertise and that offers opinions on health
100	100	matters.
101	101	(2) RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS. (a) A patient has the right to receive medically
102	102	accurate information from a health care provider providing medical care, including
103	103	medical investigation, examination, diagnosis, stabilization, consultation,
104	104	treatment, procedure, and referral.
105	105	(b) A health care provider has the right and obligation to provide medically
106	106	accurate information to patients to whom the health care provider provides medical
107	107	care and to make referrals for patients to other licensed health care providers.
108	108	(c) No person, including the state or any political subdivision of the state, may
109	109	interfere with or otherwise diminish the rights and obligations specified in par. (a)
110	110	or (b) or require in a procedure or treatment form information that is not medically
111	111	accurate.
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138	138	SECTION 1 ASSEMBLY BILL 775
139	139	(d) Employment retribution by any person against a health care provider based
140	140	on the health care provider's exercise of the rights and obligations specified in pars.
141	141	(a) and (b), or the health care provider's provision of medical care to a patient based
142	142	on such rights and obligations, is prohibited.
143	143	(e) Any person, including this state or any political subdivision or
144	144	instrumentality of this state, who violates this section shall be subject to the
145	145	remedies under sub. (3).
146	146	(f) Nothing in this section may be construed to alter existing professional
147	147	standards of care or abrogate the duty of a licensed health care provider to meet the
148	148	applicable standard of care.
149	149	(3) REMEDIES. (a) 1. A patient or health care provider claiming a violation of
150	150	the rights and obligations specified in sub. (2) and any associated claims under
151	151	common law may commence a civil action for relief under subd. 2.
152	152	2. In any action under subd. 1., the court may award appropriate relief,
153	153	including temporary, preliminary, or permanent injunctive relief, and compensatory
154	154	and punitive damages. With respect to compensatory damages, the plaintiff may
155	155	elect, at any time prior to the rendering of final judgment, to recover an award of
156	156	statutory damages in the amount of $5,000 per violation in lieu of actual damages.
157	157	(b) 1. A health care provider claiming a violation of sub. (2) (d) may commence
158	158	a civil action for relief under subd. 2.
159	159	2. In any action under subd. 1., the court may award appropriate relief,
160	160	including temporary, preliminary, or permanent injunctive relief; back pay or
161	161	reinstatement or other privileges; and compensatory and punitive damages. With
162	162	respect to compensatory damages, the plaintiff may elect, at any time before the
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189	189	SECTION 1
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191	191	rendering of final judgment, to recover an award of statutory damages in the amount
192	192	of $20,000 per violation, in lieu of actual damages.
193	193	(END)
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