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Read. Follow. Verify.Iowa Senate File 2185 Mandates Hospital Reporting of Serious Medical Events and Corrective Actions
Last action · February 12, 2026: Subcommittee recommends passage.Sponsor: Mark Lofgren
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What This Bill Would Do
Iowa hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and birth centers must report serious medical errors and adverse events to the state within 15 working days and conduct root cause analyses under Senate File 2185. The legislation establishes a confidential state reporting system managed by the Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing to identify systemic healthcare failures without penalizing individual workers. Facilities failing to report or implement corrective actions face sanctions, including license conditions.
Hospitals and licensed outpatient surgical centers face new legal mandates, deadlines, and potential state sanctions for failing to investigate and disclose major medical errors, while medical records and root cause analyses submitted to the state are designated as confidential public records.
- The Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL) serves as an umbrella regulatory agency in Iowa overseeing various professional and facility licensures. context
- Serious reportable events are largely defined based on consensus lists developed by organizations like the National Quality Forum to track preventable major medical errors. context
Who It Would Affect
Groups the bill's text would affect if enacted, as described in the record. Being affected is not a position for or against it.
hospitals
Hospitals must report serious reportable events within 15 working days, conduct root cause analyses, and implement corrective action plans under threat of state sanctions.
ambulatory surgical centers
Ambulatory surgical centers are subject to mandatory event reporting, root cause analysis requirements, and potential license conditions for noncompliance.
birth centers
Birth centers must comply with mandatory serious event reporting guidelines and maintain records under the new chapter.
health care professionals
Individual health care professionals are protected from having their identifying information included in state event reports, and the reporting system is explicitly designed not to punish professional errors.
Key Facts
- Facilities including hospitals, ambulatory surgical centers, and birth centers must report serious reportable events to the director of inspections, appeals, and licensing within 15 working days of discovery.
- Reports must identify the facility but exclude any identifying information for involved health care professionals, facility employees, or patients.
- Following a serious reportable event, a facility must conduct a root cause analysis and either implement a corrective action plan or report reasons for not taking corrective action.
- If a root cause analysis is completed but a corrective action plan is not, the findings and proposed plan must be filed with the director within 60 working days of the event.
Show all 9 facts
- Professional licensing boards must maintain complaint records of serious reportable events and forward reports to the director within 30 working days of determining an event qualifies.
- Data contained in event reports, root cause analyses, corrective action plans, and related investigative records are classified as confidential records under Code section 22.7.
- The director may sanction facilities for failing to file timely reports, conduct root cause analyses, or implement corrective action plans, and may place conditions on facility operating licenses.
- If a facility determines an event may constitute child abuse or dependent adult abuse, it must inform internal mandatory reporters under sections 232.69 or 235B.3.
- When a facility reports an event in compliance with the chapter, other state agencies or licensing boards are not required to conduct a separate investigation based on other reports of the same event.
Frequently Asked Questions
What facilities are required to report serious events under this bill?
Are patient and staff names included in the reports submitted to the state?
What happens if a facility fails to file a report or implement a corrective action plan?
Are the reports submitted by facilities open to the public?
What else do you want to know?
News Coverage
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Votes, people, money & the original sourceWhere This Stands
Currently in committee. The next step in the legislative lifecycle is Floor Vote.
Procedural history
5 actions- Feb 12, 2026Iowa LegislatureSubcommittee recommends passage.
- Feb 11, 2026Iowa LegislatureSubcommittee Meeting: 02/12/2026 8:30AM Room 315.
- Feb 11, 2026SenateSubcommittee reassigned: Lofgren, Guth, and Zimmer. S.J. 256 .
- Feb 10, 2026SenateSubcommittee: Sweeney, Webster, and Zimmer. S.J. 243 .
- Feb 3, 2026SenateIntroducedIntroduced, referred to Health and Human Services. S.J. 187 .
Version history
Only one version on file - nothing to compare yet. As later stages (committee substitute, engrossed, enrolled) are captured, the redline appears here.
View official text →Lobbying Activity
No state lobbying filings in our records match this bill. Federal lobbying reports (LDA) cover Congress, so they are not listed on state bills.
Full breakdown
Who this bill affects and the strongest case for and against it, written only from the bill’s own text.
Sponsors
Discoveries
Patterns POLISCOPE noticed across the record. These are observations to investigate, not conclusions.
Consolidation of State Oversight
The bill eliminates the need for redundant investigations by multiple state agencies or licensing boards once a compliant report is submitted.
Connected Entities
Sources
www.legis.iowa.gov
Analysis Score
0–100- Significance75How much this matters to a regular citizen
- Controversy25Intensity of disagreement among stakeholders
- Entertainment5Compellingness for a non-policy-wonk reader
- Buzz30Current news / social attention level
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