Rep. Will Greer introduces bill to cap medical trainees' hours at 60 per week

Representative Will Greer told the Committee on General and Housing on Jan. 20 that he had filed a short-form bill to limit overtime for medical staff and trainees, arguing that excessive hours harm both learning and patient safety.

Greer said the draft would cover practicing physicians, graduate medical students and hospital medical staff and that, unlike the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education’s (ACGME) 80-hour guidance, the bill would "limit their hours to 60 a week." He also told members the measure is intended to reduce fatigue-related errors and improve the quality of training.

The bill is intentionally brief, Greer said, because it raises complex federal and interstate questions and because many scenarios — such as on-call duty, continuity of care and staffing shortages — must be worked out in fuller legislation. He said overtime pay would follow the current standard of pay for hours beyond 40 in a workweek while the substantive hour cap would be set at 60.

Members pressed Greer on who would be covered. Greer said the draft includes practicing physicians, graduate medical students and hospital medical staff and indicated the drafters had tried to avoid rigidly separating "nursing and medical" roles; the inclusion of licensed practical nurses, medical assistants and other non-RN staff was discussed as part of that scope question.

Greer cited the Libby Zion case and the role it played in other states' reforms as background for the bill’s intent; he also referenced ACGME rules that aggregate hours over a period and noted those standards have evolved since the late 1980s. Greer repeatedly described the filing as a starting point and said a fuller bill would be needed to resolve scheduling, staffing and federal-law interactions.

The committee did not act on the bill during the meeting; members asked staff to follow up with more detailed language and policy options before further consideration.