Advocacy

ACEP sponsored legislation protects EPs that volunteer during a disaster


POSTED IN: Advocacy,

On Thursday, the House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee on Health marked up H.R. 1876, the “Good Samaritan Health Professionals Act of 2017.” This ACEP-supported legislation protects health care professionals who volunteer in response to disasters by providing certain liability protections. While current federal law, the Volunteer Protection Act (VPA), protects health care professionals who volunteer through a nonprofit or government entity, these liability protections do not extend to health care practitioners who volunteer on their own. In the markup, the bill was modified slightly As the bill moves forward through the legislative process, ACEP will continue working to ensure that the provisions of this bill appropriately protect emergency physicians who volunteer and provide care in response to federally-declared disasters.