On November 13, Ray Krncevic appeared before a hearing of the Ohio Senate Judiciary Committee in support of Ohio House Bill 7 on behalf of the Academy of Medicine of Cleveland and Northern Ohio, the Ohio Hospital Association, and the Ohio State Medical Association. The bill contains a number of tort reform measures that have been under consideration in Columbus for some time.

Ray testified in support of these key provisions of the bill:

1. Codification of the Ohio Supreme Court’s decision in Stewart v. Vivian, relating to the application of Ohio’s Apology Statute;
2. Implementing a new process to discourage “shotgun complaints” that indiscriminately name excessive numbers of providers in lawsuits regardless of their level of involvement in the case;
3. Providing qualified immunity for providers who are forced to make decisions on whether to hold or discharge patients on mental health assessments;
4. Enacting a higher standard of proof for lawsuits against providers who are rendering care during a declared disaster; and
5. Defending the right of providers to be judged by their peers by prohibiting the use of government and insurance company reimbursement policies to establish the standard of care in malpractice lawsuits.

Ohio H.B. 7 passed the House on June 27, 2018. It was introduced in the Senate on July 5 and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 25. The Committee adopted two technical amendments to the bill during the hearing, and prospects remain good for consideration by the full Senate before year’s end.

Read Ray’s full testimony here.