2018 New Hampshire Revised Statutes
Title LIII - Proceedings in Court
Chapter 519-C - Early Offers for Medical Injury Claims
Section 519-C:1 - Definitions.

[RSA 519-C:1 repealed by 2012, 288:3, effective November 1, 2020.]     519-C:1 Definitions. –
In this chapter:
I. "Claim for medical injury" means any claim against a medical care provider, whether based in tort, contract, or otherwise, to recover damages on account of a medical injury.
II. "Claimant" means an individual who, in his or her own right, or on behalf of another as otherwise permitted by law, is seeking compensation for a medical injury, due to alleged sub-standard medical care or treatment.
III. "Early offer" means an offer to pay an injured person's economic loss related to a medical injury, and reasonable attorney's fees and costs incurred in representing the injured person under this chapter. No other damages of any kind shall be included in an early offer under this chapter.
IV. "Economic loss" means monetary expenses incurred by or on behalf of a claimant reasonably related to a medical injury and its consequences, including actual out-of-pocket medical expenses, replacement services, additional payment to the claimant pursuant to RSA 519-C:7, and 100 percent of the claimant's salary, wages, or income from self-employment or contract work lost as a result of the medical injury. Economic loss does not include: pain and suffering, punitive damages, enhanced compensatory damages, exemplary damages, damages for loss of enjoyment of life (hedonic damages), inconvenience, physical impairment, mental anguish, emotional pain and suffering, and loss of the following: earning capacity, consortium, society, companionship, comfort, protection, marital care, parental care, attention, advice, counsel, training, guidance or education, and all other non-economic damages of any kind.
V. "Hearing officer" means a person of judicial and/or legal training, common sense, and a respect for the law, chosen by agreement of the parties from a list of neutral persons maintained by the judicial branch office of mediation and arbitration. If the parties cannot agree on the choice of a hearing officer, one will be selected at random from the list by the insurance department. Fees paid to the hearing officer for presiding at hearings under this chapter shall be paid by the medical care provider at a rate of $200 per hour and shall be reviewed for reasonableness by the insurance department. No hearing officer shall be employed by the insurance department or shall serve if such service would constitute a conflict under the New Hampshire Rules of Professional Conduct, or would require disqualification under the Code of Judicial Conduct.
VI. "Medical care provider" means a physician, physician's assistant, registered or licensed practical nurse, hospital, clinic, or other health care provider or agency licensed by the state, or otherwise lawfully providing medical care or services, or an officer, employee, or agent thereof acting in the course of and scope of employment.
VII. "Medical injury" or "injury" means any adverse, untoward, or undesired consequences caused by professional services rendered by a medical care provider, whether resulting from negligence, error, or omission in the performance of such services; from rendition of such services without informed consent or in breach of warranty or in violation of contract; from failure to diagnose; from premature abandonment of a patient or of a course of treatment; from failure properly to maintain equipment or appliances necessary to the rendition of such services; or otherwise arising out of or sustained in the course of such services.
VIII. "Notice of injury" means written notice by certified mail provided to the medical care provider alleged to have caused a medical injury, and containing:
(a) The name, address, and telephone number of the claimant;
(b) The believed date and place of the alleged medical injury;
(c) The nature of the alleged injury;
(d) An explanation, if known, as to how the alleged injury was caused;
(e) A description of the severity of the alleged injury, including the claimant's opinion of where the injury is located on the National Practitioner Data Bank severity scale;
(f) Medical records and medical bills associated with the alleged injury or a limited authorization allowing the medical care provider to obtain medical records and medical bills associated with the alleged injury;
(g) Evidence of lost wages or income from self-employment or contract work for the individual suffering from an alleged medical injury, which may be supplied through income tax returns or paycheck stubs for the year prior to the alleged injury and any subsequent records up to the date of the notice of alleged injury, or a limited authorization allowing the medical care provider to obtain such records;
(h) A demand for economic loss resulting from the alleged injury, that includes only medical expenses, replacement services, reasonable attorney fees, and lost wages, or income from self-employment or contract work;
(i) The name, address, and telephone number of claimant's attorney; and
(j) A request that the medical care provider extend an early offer of settlement of the claim.
IX. "Personal representative" means an executor, administrator, successor personal representative, or special administrator of a decedent's estate or a person legally authorized to perform substantially the same functions.
X. "Reasonable attorney fee" means 20 percent of the present value of the claimant's economic loss and the reasonable costs incurred in representing the injured person under this chapter.
XI. "Replacement services" means expenses reasonably incurred in obtaining ordinary and necessary services from others, who are not members of the injured person's household, in lieu of those the injured person would have performed for the benefit of the household, but could not because of the injury.
XII. "Wages" means monetary payment for services rendered, and the reasonable value of board, rent, housing, lodging, fuel, or a similar advantage received from the employer and gratuities received in the course of employment from others than the employer; but "wages" shall not include any sum paid by the employer to the employee to cover any special expenses incurred by the employee because of the nature of the employment. For individuals receiving unemployment benefits pursuant to RSA 282-A:25 at the time of the injury, wages shall equal the wage rate used to determine the unemployed individual's unemployment benefit pursuant to RSA 282-A:25. For a minor who is injured prior to reaching the age of 18 and who is unable to perform any gainful work as a result of the medical injury, upon reaching the age of 18 wages shall equal the mean New Hampshire per capita income as shown by the American Community Survey's 1-year Estimate (inflation adjusted), produced by the United States Census Bureau.

Source. 2012, 288:2, eff. Jan. 1, 2013.