Physician Availability Act of 2008
Official title: To assure that the services of a nonemergency department physician are available to hospital patients 24-hours-a-day, seven days a week in all non-Federal hospitals with at least 100 licensed beds.
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Referred to the Subcommittee on Environment and Hazardous Materials.
Physician Availability Act of 2008 - Requires each covered hospital to have a qualified physician available in the hospital 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to attend to the needs of the hospital's inpatients.
Defines a "covered hospital" to: (1) include hospitals participating in Medicare or Medicaid or receiving federal funds; and (2) exclude hospitals in a federal facility or hospitals that the Secretary of Health and Human Services determines have fewer than 100 licensed beds.
Considers a physician to be available if: (1) the physician is physically present in the hospital; (2) the physician's primary responsibility is to be in attendance to serve the needs of the hospital's inpatients without delay; and (3) the physician is not physically present in, assigned to, serving in, or expected to cover the hospital's emergency room or emergency department.
Sets forth penalties for violations.
- Introduced in House Formatted Text PDF Formatted XML
Cite this page
U.S. Congress. (2026). H.R. 5739: Physician Availability Act of 2008. 110th Congress. Open America. https://openamerica.io/bill/110-HR-5739/
"H.R. 5739: Physician Availability Act of 2008." 110th Congress, 2026, Open America, https://openamerica.io/bill/110-HR-5739/.
H.R. 5739, 110th Cong. (2026), https://openamerica.io/bill/110-HR-5739/.
[H.R. 5739: Physician Availability Act of 2008](https://openamerica.io/bill/110-HR-5739/)