Health Care Accountability Mission Act

Full Title:
Health Care Accountability Mission Act of 2026

Summary#

This bill would change a part of the Social Security Act (section 1866(b)). It allows the Secretary of Health and Human Services to impose a civil monetary penalty on certain hospitals when the hospital has failed to meet requirements and that failure "immediately jeopardizes" the health or safety of patients. The fine may be up to $10,000 for each day the failure continued, but the Secretary may impose this penalty only if the Secretary previously made a similar determination about that same hospital within the prior 2-year period. The penalty applies to hospitals, critical access hospitals, and rural emergency hospitals that have agreements under the cited section, except it does not apply to nonprofit hospitals. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) must post each such determination with the immediate-jeopardy finding on a public CMS website in a centralized way. The bill also says most procedural rules in section 1128A apply to these penalties (except subsections (a) and (b) of 1128A).

What it means for you#

  • If you are a patient: The bill creates a tool CMS can use to penalize certain repeated, serious safety failures at hospitals that are not nonprofit. CMS must publicly post those determinations.
  • If you work in or run a for-profit hospital, critical access hospital, or rural emergency hospital (that is not nonprofit): A repeat finding of a failure that immediately jeopardizes patient safety could lead to daily fines up to $10,000 per day.
  • If you follow CMS actions publicly: CMS will make these determinations available in a centralized place on its website.

Expenses#

  • The bill sets the maximum civil monetary penalty at up to $10,000 per day for each day the failure was ongoing.
  • No publicly available information on total projected costs, revenue, budgetary effects, or estimated fiscal impact is included in the bill text or metadata provided.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.