Arbitration

Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011 (HR1873/S987)

If passed the Arbitration Fairness Act of 2011 would:

• Amend the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) by prohibiting mandatory predispute arbitration agreements.
• Invalidate and makes unenforceable predispute arbitration clauses in civil rights, consumer, and employment disputes.

Elder Issues

Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act of 2011 (HR1897)

If passed the Alzheimer's Breakthrough Act of 2011 would:

• Increase the federal government’s commitment to Alzheimer’s research by requiring the National Institutes of Health to create a strategic plan to expedite therapeutic outcomes for those with or at risk of Alzheimer’s disease and coordinate Alzheimer’s research within the Office of the Director of the National Institutes of Health and across all Centers and Institutes of the National Institutes of Health.
• Provide for public-partnerships to be made available to encourage cooperation with public and private research institutions, institutions of higher learning, biotechnology companies and pharmaceutical companies and others in order to fast-track Alzheimer’s research and treatment development.

Elder Abuse Victims Act of 2011 (S462/HR2564)

If passed the Elder Abuse Act of 2011 would:

• Establish a program to encourage States and other qualified entities to create jobs designed to hold offenders accountable.
• Enhance the capacity of the justice system to investigate, pursue, and prosecute elder abuse cases.
• Identify existing resources to assure data collection, research, and evaluation to promote the efficacy and efficiency of the activities described in the Act.

National Silver Alert Act of 2011 (HR112/S1263)

If passed the National Silver Alert Act of 2011 would:

• Encourage, enhance, and integrate Silver Alert plans throughout the United States, to authorize grants for the assistance of organizations to find missing adults.

Long-Term Care Workforce

Caring for an Aging America Act (S1095)

If passed the Caring for an Aging America Act would:

• Address the critical shortages in doctors, nurses, social workers and other skilled health care workers. · Offer doctors, nurses, social workers and other health professionals with training in geriatrics and gerontology access to loan repayment in return for agreeing to work in underserved areas. · Build upon ongoing work by the Health Resources and Services Administration by opening up the National Health Service Corps to primary health care professionals with training in geriatrics specialties.

Direct Care Job Quality Improvement Act of 2011 (S1273/HR2341)

If passed the Direct Care Job Quality Improvement Act of 2011 would:

• Amend the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) to include basic labor protections for home care workers.
• Extend wage and overtime protections for home care workers
• Improve the recruitment and retention of direct care workers by providing grants to states to expand and support efforts aimed at recruiting, training and retaining an adequate supply of direct care workers.

Medicare

Home Health Care Access Protection Act of 2011 (S659)

If passed the Home Health Care Access Protection Act of 2011 would:

• Allow physician assistants, nurse practitioners, clinical nurse specialists and certified nurse midwives to order home health services.

Medigap Medical Loss Ratio Improvement Act of 2011 (S1416/HR2645)

If passed the Medigap Medical Loss Ratio Improvement Act of 2011 would:

• Require Medicare supplemental insurance plans -- known as "Medigap" policies -- to meet the same medical-loss ratio standards as other health plans under the federal health reform law
• Require the plans to meet the standards beginning in 2014

Medication/Pharmaceuticals

Nursing Home Resident Pain Relief Act of 2011 (S1560)

If passed the Nursing Home Resident Pain Relief Act of 2011 would:

• Enhance access to controlled substances for residents of long-term care
• Modify the CSA to permit pain medication to be dispensed in emergency situations by nursing home professionals without a direct written order by a physician prior to its dispensing
• Enhance criminal and civil penalties for long-term care administrators and facility designees who divert drugs, or who violate recordkeeping requirements

Pharmaceutical Stewardship Act of 2011 (HR2939)

If passed the Pharmaceutical Stewardship Act of 2011 would:

• Concern the safe disposal of medicines.
• Create a nonprofit organization financed by drug makers that would be responsible for state drug take-back programs.

National Labor Relations Board

Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act (HR2587/S1523)

If passed the Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act would:

• Amend the National Labor Relations Act to prohibit the NLRB from ordering any employer to relocate, shut down, or transfer employment under any circumstance. This legislation eliminates an extreme enforcement remedy available to the board; more than a dozen alternative remedies remain available to hold employers accountable for unlawful labor practices.
• Limit the NLRB’s authority in all cases that have not reached final adjudication before the board.
• Foster a positive environment for American employers to develop their businesses in the state that offers the best opportunities for growth and job creation.
• Prevent unions from utilizing inferior card-checks which can lead to employees being subjected to coercion and intimidation.

Secret Ballot Protection Act (HR972/S217)

If passed the Secret Ballot Protection Act would:

• Make it an unfair labor practice for an employer to recognize or bargain collectively with a labor organization that has not been selected by a majority of the employees in a unit appropriate for such purposes by a secret ballot election conducted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB.)

Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act (HR3094)

If passed the Workforce Democracy and Fairness Act would:

• Ensure employers are able to participate in a fair union election process. The legislation provides employers at least 14 days to prepare their case to present before a NLRB election officer and an opportunity to raise additional concerns throughout the election hearing.
• Guarantee workers have the ability to make a fully informed decision in a union election. No union election will be held in less than 35 days to give workers a chance to hear both sides of the debate. Important issues that can determine how a worker votes will be decided before ballots are cast.
• Reinstate the traditional standard for determining which employees will vote in the union election.
• Protect workers’ privacy by empowering workers to choose the type of personal contact information that is provided to the union.

Tort Reform

Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act of 2011 (HR5 /S218)

If passed the HEALTH Act would:

• Nationalize medical malpractice litigation.
• Set a statute of limitations of three years after the date of manifestation of injury or one year after the claimant discovers the injury, with certain exceptions.
• Limit noneconomic damages to $250,000. Make each party liable only for the amount of damages directly proportional to such party's percentage of responsibility.
• Authorize the award of punitive damages only where:
  (1) it is proven by clear and convincing evidence that a person acted with malicious intent to injure the claimant or deliberately failed to avoid unnecessary injury the claimant was substantially certain to suffer; and
  (2) Compensatory damages are awarded. Limits punitive damages to the greater of two times the amount of economic damages or $250,000.
• Deny punitive damages in the case of products approved, cleared, or licensed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), or otherwise considered in compliance with FDA standards.

Job Creation Act of 2011 (S12)

If passed the Job Creation Act of 2011 would:

• Impose a cap on non-economic damages, restrict attorney fees, and set a new statute of limitations on liability claims, along with other tax and health provisions.