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Committee debates tougher penalties and transparency for health‑care facility violations; bill deferred for more work
Summary
HB554, which would raise penalties for facility violations and require LDH reporting of fines and of facilities with repeated serious deficiencies, drew emotional testimony from families and technical pushback from LDH; the committee adopted a reporting amendment but voluntarily deferred the bill for further work.
Representative Wilford Carter introduced HB554 to increase civil penalties for health-care facility violations and require reporting so families can see which facilities have repeated immediate jeopardy or actual-harm deficiencies.
Candace Dawn Alexander described patterns of poor care culminating in the 2026 death of a loved one and said current penalties and enforcement do not change provider behavior. She said she filed numerous reports and cited federal and state audits that found gaps in Louisiana’s reporting and monitoring.
Department of Health executive counsel Nick Goscheson told members the department is pushing to collect outstanding fines but noted statutory monthly caps limit total recoverable amounts; he said doubling fines would reach those caps sooner without increasing the monthly cap. Committee member Representative Jackson offered and the committee adopted an amendment to require LDH to publish on its website fines assessed and collected and list facilities with three or more immediate jeopardy or actual-harm deficiencies in a 12-month period.
After debate the sponsor and proponents agreed to continue working with LDH and other stakeholders; Representative Jackson moved to voluntarily defer HB554 so staff and the department can refine enforcement and collection language, and the committee agreed to defer the bill.
