As a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC), NOAH is eligible to receive ongoing Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) coverage.
What Does This Mean?
Under the Federally Supported Health Centers Assistance Acts of 1992 and 1995 (FSHCAA) governing board members, officers, employees, and certain individual contractors of FTCA covered entities (ie. NOAH) are eligible to be treated as Public Health Service (ie. federal government) employees for purposes of medical malpractice liability coverage.
This means that a covered entity or individual is immune and will not be financially liable for any claims arising from covered activities.
To qualify for this coverage health centers must meet certain Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) requirements including having certain quality measures in place. Following the annual application process, a health center that receives this coverage is considered a “deemed facility” and granted FTCA coverage.
Congress’ intent in passing this legislation was to essentially increase health center funding by reducing or eliminating health centers’ malpractice insurance premiums.
How Does NOAH Benefit?
We are pleased to have received our status as a deemed facility again this year. This coverage allows us to allocate resources that would otherwise pay for insurance premiums to providing patient care.
