§29-12C-1 Patient injury compensation plan study board created; purpose; study of creation and funding of patient injury compensation fund; developing rules and establishing program; and report to th
§29-12C-1. Patient injury compensation plan study board created; purpose; study of creation and funding of patient injury compensation fund; developing rules and establishing program; and report to the Legislature.
(a) In recognition of the statewide concern over the rising cost of medical malpractice insurance and the difficulty that health care practitioners have in locating affordable medical malpractice insurance, there is hereby created a patient injury compensation fund study board to study the feasibility of establishing a patient injury compensation fund to reimburse claimants in medical malpractice actions for any portion of economic damages awarded which are uncollectible due to statutory limitations on damage awards for trauma care and/or the elimination of joint and several liability of tortfeasor health care providers and health care facilities.
(b) The patient injury compensation fund study board shall consist of the director of the board of risk and insurance management, who shall serve as chairperson, the insurance commissioner and an appointee of the governor. The patient injury compensation fund study board shall utilize the resources of the board of risk and insurance management and the insurance commission to effectuate the study required by this article. The patient injury compensation fund study board shall meet upon the call of the chair. A simple majority of the patient injury compensation fund study board members constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business.
(c) The patient injury compensation fund study board is authorized to hold hearings, conduct investigations and consider, without limitation, all options for identifying funding methods and for the operation and administration of a patient injury compensation fund within the following guidelines:
(1) The board of risk and insurance management is responsible for implementing, administering and operating any patient injury compensation fund;
(2) The patient injury compensation fund must be actuarially sound and fully funded in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles;
(3) Eligibility for reimbursement from the patient injury compensation fund is limited to claimants who have been awarded damages in a medical malpractice action but have been certified by the board of risk and insurance management to be unable, after exhausting all reasonable means available by law of recovering the award, to collect all or part of the economic damages awarded due to the limitations on awards established in sections nine and nine-c, article seven-b, chapter fifty-five of this code; and
(4) The board of risk and insurance management may invest the moneys in the patient injury compensation fund and use any interest or other return from investments to pay administration expenses and claims granted.
(d) The patient injury compensation fund study board's report and recommendations shall be completed no later than the first day of December, two thousand three, and shall be presented to the joint committee of government and finance during the legislative interim meetings to be held in December, two thousand three.