Patient Rescue Readiness and Accountability Act (PRRAA)
Abstract
The Patient Rescue Readiness and Accountability Act (PRRAA) is a model legislative framework designed to establish measurable national standards for clinical rescue readiness, rapid response activation, executive accountability, and workforce protection in healthcare facilities. Failure-to-rescue, defined as the inability to recognize or respond effectively to clinical deterioration, remains a persistent source of preventable morbidity and mortality across hospital systems. PRRAA addresses this systemic gap by codifying structural safeguards that move rescue from discretionary practice to enforceable infrastructure. The Act establishes: • Statutory rescue-readiness standards, including protected Rapid Response Team staffing ratios• A National Safety Office (NSO) responsible for oversight, audit, and public reporting• A Rescue Readiness Index (RRI) as a national performance metric• Protected good-faith activation and whistleblower safeguards• Executive compensation linkage to safety outcomes• Interoperable data submission via FHIR-compatible standards• Tiered compliance enforcement mechanisms• A phased national implementation timeline PRRAA integrates workforce protection with measurable accountability. It explicitly prohibits retaliation for good-faith escalation and requires independent reporting pathways. Facilities that meet statutory readiness criteria receive defined civil protections for unforeseeable events, while intentional data falsification or persistent non-compliance triggers sanction. The framework aligns operationally with the Global Patient Safety Initiative (GPSI) Policy Blueprint 2026–2030 and integrates data architecture compatible with national and international interoperability standards. This model legislation is intended for adaptation by ministries of health, national legislatures, regulatory agencies, and hospital governance bodies. It is structured for jurisdictional modification while preserving core rescue-readiness protections.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Patient Safety and Medication Errors
Healthcare Quality and Management
Healthcare Regulation
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
- Publication date
- 9 January 2026