In 2018, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania Civil Procedural Rules Committee (rules committee) proposed elimination of Rule 1006(a.1) (venue rule), which requires that a medical professional liability action be brought in "a county in which the cause of action arose." Since the change was first proposed, the COVID-19 pandemic accelerated the trends that led to implementing the Venue Rule nearly 20 years ago. As the health care economy adjusts to a post-COVID-19 environment, the case for the venue rule proposed revision is even less compelling than it was when it was first suggested.

When the rules committee proposed to eliminate the venue rule in December 2018, it characterized the venue rule as "special treatment to a particular class of defendants" that "no longer appears warranted." The rules committee explained that when the venue rule was first implemented, there was a significant decrease in medical malpractice filings and a reduction in payouts. The rules committee proposed that eliminating the venue rule would "restore fairness" to venue procedure. To reach its objective, the rules committee proposed removing subsection (a.1) entirely and any reference to medical professional liability. Under the proposed revision, venue in a medical professional liability lawsuit would be proper where: "the individual may be served; the cause of action arose; a transaction or occurrence took place out of which the cause of action arose; [or] venue is authorized by law." In effect, medical professional liability defendants would be subject to the same venue rules as any other civil defendant.