HAP, Members Advocate for Medical Liability Reform

October 27, 2025

During a hearing today hosted by the Senate State Government Committee, HAP and hospital leaders discussed how Pennsylvania’s medical liability climate threatens access to care.

“Escalating costs to secure and maintain insurance coverage, coupled with the risk of nuclear verdicts, discourage physicians and other providers from practicing in our state and make it increasingly difficult to sustain high-risk services,” HAP President and CEO Nicole Stallings said in testimony. “Hospitals need partnership from all levels of government to keep providers and protect access to essential care in our communities.”

Along with Stallings, a panel of hospital leaders testified, including:

• Loren Stone, MHA, CEO, Endless Mountains Health Systems (Testimony)
• Alfred S. Casale, system chief medical officer, Surgical Services, Geisinger (Testimony)
• Mary Ellen Nepps, senior counsel, Penn Medicine (Testimony)
• Mark R. Zolfaghari, Esquire, chief medical litigation officer, St. Luke’s University Health Network (Testimony)
• Charles Barbera, MD, MBA, MPH, FACEP, president and CEO, Reading Hospital, (Testimony)

The hearing focused on Senate Bill 125, sponsored by committee Chair Cris Dush (R-Jefferson). The measure would take the first steps to create a constitutional amendment allowing the General Assembly to set rules about venue in medical liability cases. Such a change would give lawmakers authority to vote on potentially repealing the 2022 Pennsylvania Supreme Court rule change to allow “venue shopping.” To amend the state constitution, both chambers of the General Assembly must pass identical legislation in back-to-back sessions and voters then decide the issue through public referendum.

The committee also heard from a panel of physicians who practice at Pennsylvania hospitals. A full list of speakers, testimony, and video from the hearing are available online.