New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed four healthcare reform bills into law on March 6, including the state's first malpractice overhaul in decades — creating tiered liability caps and banning facility fees on preventive outpatient care.

The centerpiece is HB 99, which establishes tiered malpractice damage caps: $1 million for independent providers, $6 million for locally owned hospitals, and $15 million for large health systems. The bill also raises the evidentiary standard from preponderance of evidence to "clear and convincing" and passed the House 66-3 and Senate 40-2.

HB 306 prohibits hospitals from charging facility fees directly to patients for preventive outpatient care, outpatient vaccinations, and telehealth services — while preserving facility fees for inpatient and emergency care and protecting rural hospitals. It passed both chambers unanimously.

Two additional bills round out the package: HB 4 increases revenue to the Health Care Affordability Fund, and SB 101 makes Medicaid hospital funding permanent by repealing the sunset clause in the Health Care Delivery and Access Act. The governor signed the legislation at the soon-to-open Valencia County Hospital in Los Lunas, partially funded with a $50 million state investment.

For multistate practice operators: New Mexico's near-unanimous bipartisan support on these measures — particularly the facility fee ban — signals a policy template other states are likely to adopt.

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