On the recordJanuary 5, 2017
if I could speak through the Chair. I failed to mention one thing about Sorry Works, Seven Pillars, and what we are doing in Delaware. If we have that meeting between the patient who had been harmed, the physician and provider, and they have the need where there is an apology and an offer to try to make the patient whole--no attorneys involved--if the patient says no, I am not interested in doing that, nothing that is said in that conversation between the two of them can be used in a court of law, which I think is an interesting approach. We are anxious to see how it works over the next couple of years. Ironically, I was probably the only Democrat--maybe the only member of the Finance Committee--who was trying to get included in the Affordable Care Act provisions dealing with medical malpractice. I had this idea--not to let a thousand flowers bloom or ideas like that--to figure out five or six good ideas and put them on steroids to see if they actually work on a larger scale. I could not get a cosponsor on the other side of the aisle, which blew my mind. It still does. I could never understand that. In the meantime, the ideas are starting to crop up and flourish, and, hopefully, we can find out what works and do more of that. Thank you.
