House Passes Patient Rights Bill.

Shortly after President George W Bush and Representative Charles Norwood, R-Ga., reached a compromise agreement, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a patients' rights bill. The bill passed on a 226 to 203 vote. No Republicans voted against the bill and five Democrats voted in favor of it.

The measure, as approved by the House, would permit HMOs to be sued in state courts, but a federal cap would limit the damages a patient could collect Punitive damages and payments for pain and suffering would be limited to $1.S million. Nor-wood has long been one of the primary advocates of patients' rights legislation. He opposed placing limits on the damages patients could collect, but faced with the threat of a presidential veto, decided to accept the compromise proposal.

Early in July, the Senate passed a patients rights bill with significant differences from the version approved by the House.

Now, it remains to be seen whether a conference committee can find a suitable compromise that is acceptable to all sides. Senate Majority Leader Thomas Daschle, D-S.D., warned that the Senate would never accept the legislation passed by the House, but he did not rule out a possible compromise.

James A. Hawkins is Publisher of Healthcare Briefings, a newsletter available in print, on cassette, via fax, and on computer disk. He can be reached at 800/414-2062.