S. 1567: Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2021
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S. 1567: Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2021
117th Congress · introduced 2021-05-11 · Health · Latest: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
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Follow this bill, step by step
- Where it came from: introduced 2021-05-11 · official record
- Who proposed it: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH] · what a sponsor is
- What happened next: no floor votes in our records yet. Why?
- Where it stands now: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. Not final yet: this can still change. We check for updates every day.
- If it becomes law and spends money: follow the money to money laws, then agencies and contracts and grants.
Official title
Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2021
Plain summary
Nurse Staffing Standards for Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2021 This bill requires hospitals to implement and submit to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a staffing plan that complies with specified minimum nurse-to-patient ratios by unit. Hospitals must post a notice regarding nurse-to-patient ratios in each unit and maintain records of actual ratios for each shift in each unit. The bill also requires hospitals to follow certain procedures regarding how ratios are determined and other staff are prohibited from performing nurse functions unless specifically authorized within a state's scope of practice rules, among other requirements. HHS must adjust Medicare payments to hospitals to cover additional costs attributable to compliance with these ratios. Nurses may object to, or refuse to participate in, an assignment if it would violate minimum ratios or if they are not prepared by education or experience to fulfill the assignment without compromising the safety of a patient or jeopardizing their nurse's license. Hospitals may not (1) take adverse actions against a nurse based on the nurse's reasonable refusal to accept an assignment; or (2) discriminate against individuals for good faith complaints relating to the care, services, or conditions of the hospital or related facilities. HHS may impose civil monetary penalties on hospitals violating the ratio requirements and must publish the names of such hospitals. The bill provides stipends to the nurse workforce loan repayment and scholarship program and expands the nurse retention grant program to include nurse preceptorship and mentorship projects.
Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate), quoted unchanged (nonpartisan). Read the source.
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What does this mean? (plain words)
Official text
Nurse Staffing Standards for Hospital Patient Safety and Quality Care Act of 2021
Source: Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
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How did my representative vote? · This bill's floor votes
Officials and money
Sponsor: Sen. Brown, Sherrod [D-OH] · 6 cosponsors
Cost estimate: No cost estimate published yet.
Cosponsors on this site
Alex Padilla (D-CA), Tammy Baldwin (D-WI), Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
No linked floor roll calls in our collected records yet. This does not mean the bill has never had a vote. Check the official bill history.
Words on this page, explained (3)
- Authorization
- A law that creates or continues a government program and says what it may do, often with a suggested spending ceiling. An authorization alone does not provide money; a separate appropriation does.
- Bill
- A proposed law. It becomes law only if it passes the legislature and is signed by the president or governor (or a veto is overridden).
- Rulemaking
- The process agencies use to write regulations that carry out laws passed by Congress or a legislature. Usually an agency publishes a proposed rule, takes public comments, then publishes a final rule.
Plain meanings written from linked sources. All words.
Sources
- Congressional Research Service summary (Introduced in Senate)
- Congress.gov
- Data: GovInfo BILLSTATUS bulk data (Library of Congress), BILLSTATUS-117s1567.xml <https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/117/s>
Record fed-us-cong117-s1567 · catalog fed-us-congress-bills-cong117 · updated 2026-11-15 by psicol fed-bills-cong117