Sponsor
Theodore Paul Budd
Senator · R-NC
Senator · R-NC
The bill speeds and incentivizes rapid, cross‑state deployment of health workers in emergencies and provides liability protections to enable participation, but it raises patient-safety risks, reduces states' licensure control, limits victims' legal remedies, and could expose taxpayers to federal liabilities.
State and local governments can obtain faster access to credentialed health professionals via platform-enabled surge deployments during declared emergencies, improving local emergency response capacity.
Patients and health-care systems can receive rapid cross-state mobilization of independent contractor health workers through temporary licensure waivers, increasing available clinical capacity in hotspots.
Platform operators and contracted health workers gain broad liability protections for authorized emergency activities, reducing legal risk and encouraging participation in surge responses.
Patients (including those with chronic conditions) may receive care from out-of-state contractors vetted through expedited processes, increasing the risk of variable quality or safety where state standards differ.
Injured patients and families could face reduced legal recourse because broad liability shields and FTCA employee-status for contractors limit lawsuits except for willful misconduct or gross negligence.
Taxpayers could incur new federal legal liabilities and costs because FTCA coverage may apply to private contractors acting under federal agreements during emergencies.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Authorizes the President to make voluntary agreements with private health workforce platforms to deploy credentialed independent contractors during declared emergencies and to coordinate State licensure waivers, with limited liability protections and FTCA treatment in narrow cases.
Official title: Permit the use of health care workforce platforms during declared emergencies, and for other purposes.
Introduced May 8, 2025 by Theodore Paul Budd · Last progress May 8, 2025
Creates a new federal authority allowing the President to enter voluntary agreements with private health care workforce platforms to mobilize credentialed independent-contractor health workers during declared emergencies. The measure enables coordination with states to streamline temporary licensure waivers using model procedures (including background checks and platform vetting), grants limited liability protections to participating platforms and contractors, requires reporting to Congress, and treats certain private contractors as federal employees for FTCA purposes when the federal government has primary responsibility in an emergency.