State order gives doctors enhanced protections - Albuquerque Journal

State order gives doctors enhanced protections

Albuquerque Ambulance EMTs wheel a patient on a gurney in front of Presbyterian Hospital near Downtown Albuquerque in November. An executive order signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last week seeks to reduce doctors’ legal liability if they are forced to ration care due to the COVID-19 pandemic. (Adolphe Pierre-Louis/Albuquerque Journal)

Copyright © 2020 Albuquerque Journal

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has moved to reduce doctors’ exposure to lawsuits as they prepare to practice in a worsening COVID-19 climate that one medical association is likening to a “war zone.”

In an executive order issued Friday, the governor said the state could be just weeks away from implementing “crisis standards of care” – standards that outline how to ration medical resources when need exceeds availability.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham

Her order calls upon the state to provide a new COVID-19 credential for physicians, nurse practitioners and other advanced health care providers treating patients with the virus or believed to have the virus. With credentials, they will be considered public employees for the purposes of the state’s Tort Claims Act.

That means the state is essentially the doctors’ underwriter, said Annie Jung, who represents about 3,000 physicians as executive director of the New Mexico Medical Society.

“It’s not total immunity, by any stretch of the imagination, but it does go a long way to protecting the physician who is going to be practicing basically in a war zone,” Jung said. “It’s not just a normal day-to-day scope of practice that the physicians and nurses are facing.”

Credentialing would begin if New Mexico moved to “crisis care” standards through a declaration by the state health secretary.

A declaration would follow a recommendation from the state’s Medical Advisory Team – a group of health, legal and ethics experts – which would consult with the state’s hospitals, according to the governor’s order.

New Mexico hospitals are already working under “contingency care,” meaning patient demand exceeds standard resource availability but can still be met through adaptation and conservation efforts.

Crisis care is required when those contingency efforts are no longer sufficient. The Medical Advisory Team has developed a crisis care protocol for triaging patients and determining, for example, who gets a ventilator when there are not enough for everyone who needs one.

Lujan Grisham’s order says that “crisis care” obligates providers to do “what is best for everyone in the state” rather than what is best for individual patients. Projections show crisis care standards may be needed over the next several weeks, according to her order.

“If ‘Crisis Care’ standards are implemented, health care professionals will be asked to assist in additional areas outside their scope of practice and to provide support, in any way possible, with the treatment and care of those infected with the COVID-19 virus and to stretch limited resources beyond usual and customary practice,” the governor’s order says. “Providers have raised concerns about their legal protections when asked to address the extraordinary demands of treating New Mexicans with and without COVID-19 during this heightened medical surge.”

The governor’s order also invokes action by the state’s insurance superintendent, who on Monday issued three COVID-19-related directives. One prohibits insurers from denying malpractice coverage to qualified health care practitioners providing medical services “in a different specialty rating” due to COVID-19 and prevents malpractice liability insurance policies from excluding, limiting or modifying claims against health care providers “arising from the diagnosis, misdiagnosis, failure to diagnose, treatment, or failure to treat COVID-19.”

Another instructs insurers to “promptly and accurately” reimburse doctors and other clinicians for treating COVID-19 patients, even if it occurs outside their normal specialty or place of service, noting that many have been called into hospitals where they don’t normally work.

Insurance Superintendent Russell Toal wrote in the order that his office “wants to be sure that these community heroes receive the compensation owed to them for their services and appreciates payers’ efforts to be sure that happens in a timely manner.”

Jung said actions by the governor and superintendent combined with a recent New Mexico Medical Board vote to essentially shift how physicians are judged during the COVID-19 crisis have provided several welcome protections. Crisis care standards, if adopted, would be deemed “generally accepted health care standards.”

“Hopefully, we don’t get (to crisis care), but this does help support the clinicians during this time that they’re going above and beyond at personal risk,” Jung said.

Troy Clark, president and CEO of the New Mexico Hospital Association, said that although the governor’s order does not afford providers immunity from lawsuits, “it does limit their exposure” by granting the same protections afforded public employees.

“We are grateful for the efforts the governor is making through this executive order – given the current authority level she has within the state of New Mexico – to recognize the need for protections for physicians and hospitals. However, we also look forward to working with the Legislature to enhance our public health emergency act protections for providers to receive immunity protections during a public health crisis,” said Clark, whose association encompasses 46 hospitals.

Home » News » New Mexico News » State order gives doctors enhanced protections

Insert Question Legislature form in Legis only stories




Albuquerque Journal and its reporters are committed to telling the stories of our community.

• Do you have a question you want someone to try to answer for you? Do you have a bright spot you want to share?
   We want to hear from you. Please email yourstory@abqjournal.com

taboola desktop

ABQjournal can get you answers in all pages

 

Questions about the Legislature?
Albuquerque Journal can get you answers
Email addresses are used solely for verification and to speed the verification process for repeat questioners.
1
No more 'Breaking Bad' — Rebel Donut to close ...
ABQnews Seeker
Beloved Albuquerque doughnut shop Rebel Donut ... Beloved Albuquerque doughnut shop Rebel Donut is closing its doors next week on Thursday, June 15.
2
Albuquerque Police ID three young men killed at house ...
ABQnews Seeker
Police believe that multiple guns were ... Police believe that multiple guns were fired during a weekend house party to celebrate recent graduations and a birthday. Three men were killed and ...
3
Investigation Discovery's 'Late Night Lockup' to premiere, features Albuquerque ...
ABQnews Seeker
Police officers encounter human behavior all ... Police officers encounter human behavior all the time. Yet, it's during the late night hours where things can get strange. Investigation Discovery's six-part series, ...
4
New Mexico's largest credit union Nusenda moves to expand ...
ABQnews Seeker
Once complete, the addition of Western ... Once complete, the addition of Western Heritage's branches - it has one in Las Cruces, one in Deming and four in El Paso - ...
5
The meaning of justice to victims vs. law's goal
ABQnews Seeker
On the day he was murdered, ... On the day he was murdered, Bangladeshi geology professor Taher Ahmed interrupted his visit with his adult children in Dhaka, the nation's capital and ...
6
‘Weak mayor’ proposal sets up possible 10-member City Council
ABQnews Seeker
Councilors deferred until June 21 a ... Councilors deferred until June 21 a proposal that would reshape Albuquerque's government
7
Camp in session: UNM basketball players get experience coaching ...
ABQnews Seeker
Monday, at the Pit, 75 3rd ... Monday, at the Pit, 75 3rd through 7th graders were wide eyed and excited to be learning from their favorite Lobo basketball stars.
8
Can rivalry games be saved? UNM, NMSU swap facility ...
ABQnews Seeker
Amid a rare offseason flare-up of ... Amid a rare offseason flare-up of rivalry drama, UNM and NMSU on Monday made progress toward getting their hoops rivalry going again.
9
Pipeline from this surprising school produces more transfers to ...
ABQnews Seeker
This week, two new transfer announcements ... This week, two new transfer announcements in as many days amounted to (unofficially) two new Lobos in former Alabama State running back Jacory Merritt ...