GENERAL PROVISIONS
655.001   Definitions.
655.002   Applicability.
655.003   Exemptions for public employees and facilities and volunteers.
655.004   Rule-making authority.
655.005   Health care provider employees.
655.006   Remedy.
655.007   Patients' claims.
655.009   Actions against health care providers.
655.01   Forms.
655.013   Attorney fees.
655.015   Future medical expenses.
655.016   Claim by minor sibling for loss of society and companionship.
655.017   Limitation on noneconomic damages.
655.019   Information needed to set fees.
SUBCHAPTER III
INSURANCE PROVISIONS
655.23   Limitations of liability; proof of financial responsibility.
655.24   Insurance policy forms.
655.245   Insurance policy limitations.
655.25   Availability and effectiveness for health care liability insurance.
655.26   Reports on claims paid.
SUBCHAPTER IV
INJURED PATIENTS AND FAMILIES
COMPENSATION FUND
655.27   Injured patients and families compensation fund.
655.275   Injured patients and families compensation fund peer review council.
SUBCHAPTER VI
MEDIATION SYSTEM
655.42   Establishment of mediation system.
655.43   Mediation requirement.
655.44   Request for mediation prior to court action.
655.445   Request for mediation in conjunction with court action.
655.45   Reports to licensing bodies.
655.455   Notice to health care providers and fund.
655.465   Mediation panels; mediation period.
655.54   Filing fee.
655.58   Mediation procedure.
655.61   Funding.
SUBCHAPTER VII
MEDIATION FUND
655.68   Mediation fund.
Ch. 655 Cross-reference Cross-reference: See definitions in ss. 600.03 and 628.02.
Ch. 655 Cross-reference Cross-reference: See also ch. Ins 17, Wis. adm. code.
subch. I of ch. 655 SUBCHAPTER I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
655.001 655.001 Definitions. In this chapter:
655.001(1) (1)“Board of governors" means the board created under s. 619.04 (3).
655.001(2) (2)“Claimant" means the person filing a request for mediation under s. 655.44 or 655.445.
655.001(4) (4)“Department" means the department of health services.
655.001(6) (6)“Fiscal year" means the period beginning on July 1 and ending on the following June 30.
655.001(7) (7)“Fund" means the injured patients and families compensation fund under s. 655.27.
655.001(7m) (7m)“Graduate medical education program" means a program approved by the medical examining board that provides postgraduate medical education and training for a person who possesses a diploma from a medical or osteopathic college or who has the equivalent education and experience from a foreign medical school recognized by the Education Commission for Foreign Medical Graduates.
655.001(7t) (7t)“Health care practitioner" means a health care professional, as defined in s. 180.1901 (1m), who is an employee of a health care provider described in s. 655.002 (1) (d), (e), (em), or (f) and who has the authority to provide health care services that are not in collaboration with a physician under s. 441.15 (2) (b) or under the direction and supervision of a physician or nurse anesthetist.
655.001(8) (8)“Health care provider" means a person to whom this chapter applies under s. 655.002 (1) or a person who elects to be subject to this chapter under s. 655.002 (2).
655.001(8c) (8c)“Insurer" includes a foreign insurer that is a risk retention group that issues health care liability insurance under this chapter.
655.001(9) (9)“Nurse anesthetist" means a nurse who is licensed under ch. 441 or who holds a multistate license, as defined in s. 441.51 (2) (h), issued in a party state, as defined in s. 441.51 (2) (k), and who is certified as a nurse anesthetist by the American association of nurse anesthetists.
655.001(10) (10)“Patient" means an individual who received or should have received health care services from a health care provider or from an employee of a health care provider acting within the scope of his or her employment.
655.001(10m) (10m)“Physician" means a medical or osteopathic physician licensed under ch. 448.
655.001(11) (11)“Principal place of practice" means any of the following:
655.001(11)(a) (a) The state in which a health care provider furnishes health care services to more than 50 percent of his or her patients in a fiscal year.
655.001(11)(b) (b) The state in which a health care provider derives more than 50 percent of his or her income in a fiscal year from the practice of his or her profession.
655.001(12) (12)“Representative" means the personal representative, spouse, parent, guardian, attorney or other legal agent of a patient.
655.001(13) (13)“Respondent" means the person alleged to have been negligent in a request for mediation filed under s. 655.44 or 655.445.
655.001(14) (14)“Self-insurance plan" means a plan approved by the commissioner to self-insure health care providers against medical malpractice claims in accordance with this chapter. A “self-insurance plan" may provide coverage to a single health care provider or affiliated health care providers.
655.001 Annotation This chapter is a constitutionally valid enactment. State ex rel. Strykowski v. Wilkie, 81 Wis. 2d 491, 261 N.W.2d 434 (1978).
655.001 Annotation Medical Malpractice Panels: The Wisconsin Approach. Kravat. 61 MLR 55 (1977).
655.001 Annotation Testing the Constitutionality of Medical Malpractice Legislation: The Wisconsin Medical Malpractice Act of 1975. Mathy. 1977 WLR 838.
655.001 Annotation A summary of the new statutes governing medical malpractice. Saichek. WBB Oct. 1986.
655.002 655.002 Applicability.
655.002(1)(1)Mandatory participation. Except as provided in s. 655.003, this chapter applies to all of the following:
655.002(1)(a) (a) A physician or a nurse anesthetist for whom this state is a principal place of practice and who practices his or her profession in this state more than 240 hours in a fiscal year.
655.002(1)(b) (b) A physician or a nurse anesthetist for whom Michigan is a principal place of practice, if all of the following apply:
655.002(1)(b)1. 1. The physician or nurse anesthetist is a resident of this state.
655.002(1)(b)2. 2. The physician or nurse anesthetist practices his or her profession in this state or in Michigan or a combination of both more than 240 hours in a fiscal year.
655.002(1)(b)3. 3. The physician or nurse anesthetist performs more procedures in a Michigan hospital than in any other hospital. In this subdivision, “Michigan hospital" means a hospital located in Michigan that is an affiliate of a corporation organized under the laws of this state that maintains its principal office and a hospital in this state.
655.002(1)(c) (c) A physician or nurse anesthetist who is exempt under s. 655.003 (1) or (3), but who practices his or her profession outside the scope of the exemption and who fulfills the requirements under par. (a) in relation to that practice outside the scope of the exemption. For a physician or a nurse anesthetist who is subject to this chapter under this paragraph, this chapter applies only to claims arising out of practice that is outside the scope of the exemption under s. 655.003 (1) or (3).
655.002(1)(d) (d) A partnership comprised of physicians or nurse anesthetists and organized and operated in this state for the primary purpose of providing the medical services of physicians or nurse anesthetists.
655.002(1)(e) (e) A corporation organized and operated in this state for the primary purpose of providing the medical services of physicians or nurse anesthetists.
655.002(1)(em) (em) Any organization or enterprise not specified under par. (d) or (e) that is organized and operated in this state for the primary purpose of providing the medical services of physicians or nurse anesthetists.
655.002(1)(f) (f) A cooperative health care association organized under s. 185.981 that operates nonprofit health care plans in this state and that directly provides services through salaried employees in its own facility.
655.002(1)(g) (g) An ambulatory surgery center that operates in this state.
655.002(1)(h) (h) A hospital, as defined in s. 50.33 (2) (a) and (c), that operates in this state.
655.002(1)(i) (i) An entity operated in this state that is an affiliate of a hospital and that provides diagnosis or treatment of, or care for, patients of the hospital.
655.002(1)(j) (j) A nursing home, as defined in s. 50.01 (3), whose operations are combined as a single entity with a hospital described in par. (h), whether or not the nursing home operations are physically separate from the hospital operations.
655.002(2) (2) Optional participation. All of the following may elect, in the manner designated by the commissioner by rule under s. 655.004, to be subject to this chapter:
655.002(2)(a) (a) A physician or nurse anesthetist for whom this state is a principal place of practice but who practices his or her profession fewer than 241 hours in a fiscal year, for a fiscal year, or a portion of a fiscal year, during which he or she practices his or her profession.
655.002(2)(b) (b) Except as provided in sub. (1) (b), a physician or nurse anesthetist for whom this state is not a principal place of practice, for a fiscal year, or a portion of a fiscal year, during which he or she practices his or her profession in this state. For a health care provider who elects to be subject to this chapter under this paragraph, this chapter applies only to claims arising out of practice that is in this state and that is outside the scope of an exemption under s. 655.003 (1) or (3).
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2021-22 Wisconsin Statutes updated through 2023 Wis. Act 93 and through all Supreme Court and Controlled Substances Board Orders filed before and in effect on March 22, 2024. Published and certified under s. 35.18. Changes effective after March 22, 2024, are designated by NOTES. (Published 3-22-24)