Georgia lawmakers enacted legal protections for physicians engaged in quality and delivery improvement initiatives included in the federal health care reform law. This first-of-its-kind legislation reinforces the concept that medical decisions are made based on a patient's unique medical needs.
The new State Physician Shield Act is based on model legislation developed by the AMA Advocacy Resource Center to make it clear that federal standards or guidelines designed to enhance access to high-quality health care cannot be used to invent new legal actions against physicians.