New Mexico’s Healthcare Community Unites Around Meaningful Medical Malpractice Reform to Protect Access to Care

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (Jan. 29, 2026) – As House Bill 99, Medical Malpractice Changes, is scheduled to be heard in committee, New Mexico’s healthcare community is united around one clear message: New Mexico needs meaningful medical malpractice reform now to protect patient access to care across the state. 
Physicians, hospitals and healthcare organizations – including the New Mexico Hospital Association and the New Mexico Medical Society and hospital leaders from across New Mexico – today reaffirmed their shared support for House Bill 99. Together, they are calling for meaningful reform that strengthens access to care, preserves accountability and provides stability for patients and providers alike.  

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Across New Mexico – particularly in rural and underserved communities – patients are already experiencing the consequences of a growing access-to-care crisis. The physician shortage is worsening, community hospitals are facing increased instability and liability pressures, and patients are waiting longer or traveling farther to receive the care they need.

“Doctors need hospitals, and hospitals need doctors, and our communities and patients need both,” said Robert Underwood, MD, president of the New Mexico Medical Society. “HB 99 represents meaningful reform, which ultimately is something patients can feel: shorter wait times, access to specialty services, and not having to travel across the state – or out of state- to get care. HB 99 focuses on protecting access to care for New Mexicans, today and in the future.”

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What Meaningful Reform Means

 

New Mexico’s healthcare community is united not just in supporting reform – but in defining what meaningful reform must accomplish. Meaningful medical malpractice reform is reform that improves patient access to care while preserving accountability and fairness. Specifically, it means legislation that: 

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• Protects access to care by stabilizing the medical liability environment so physicians can practice and stay in New Mexico

• Preserves patients’ rights and accountability, ensuring patients harmed by medical negligence retain their right to seek justice

• Keeps essential services open, particularly in rural communities where hospitals serve as lifelines for emergency and specialty care

• Creates predictability and fairness, aligning New Mexico with proven best practices already adopted by many other states

 

​Any organized effort by the New Mexico Trial Lawyers Association and other opponents of reform  that is less than meaningful – policies that increase instability, reduce access, or fail to address the root causes of the crisis – will not solve the problem and should be rejected as a half-measure that will do nothing to improve access to care. Alternative proposals should only be entertained as long as they seek to build consensus around the type of meaningful reform described above.

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“Legislative policy that does not result in real, measurable improvements to access are not reforms — they’re delays,” said Troy Clark, President and CEO of the New Mexico Hospital Association. “If it doesn’t meaningfully protect patients’ ability to get care, we will ask that legislator’s vote no.”

 

​Why HB 99 Matters Now

 

House Bill 99 delivers meaningful reform by advancing targeted, balanced changes that stabilize New Mexico’s malpractice environment while maintaining patient protections and accountability. These reforms are designed to: reduce volatility in malpractice exposure, support physician recruitment and retention across the state, protect essential services and strengthen access to care for patients across New Mexico. 

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“Our priority is, and must always be, patient access to care,” said Annie Jung, Executive Director of the New Mexico Medical Society. HB 99 strikes the right balance between accountability and sustainability so doctors can focus on caring for patients and building their careers here in New Mexico.

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A Unified Call to Action

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New Mexico’s healthcare community is clear: access to care is the goal, and meaningful reform is the only path forward. 

As legislators consider House Bill 99, healthcare leaders urge policymakers to stay focused on solutions that make a real difference for patients, families, and communities.
Hospital leaders across New Mexico echoed that urgency, emphasizing the real-world consequences of inaction.

“Without meaningful reform, communities like ours face the loss of services, or even hospitals, that patients rely on every day,” said James Kiser CEO of Holy Cross Medical Center. “We must reject half-measures that distract while access to care continues to erode. HB 99 is about keeping care close to home for the patients and community members we are proud to serve.”

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House Bill 99 is meaningful reform. New Mexico patients cannot afford anything less. To learn more visit supportnmhospitals.com.