American Medical Association Medical
Liability Reform page
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Save Our Doctors - Website on Tort
reform in Maryland: www.saveourdoctors.org |
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Prop 103 Flawed Analysis -
The
personal injury lawyers and their front organizations assert that
the California "MICRA" reforms, on which MedChi's
proposed reforms are based, did not control insurance cost. Instead,
they repeat the myth that an insurance reform initiative, known as
Prop. 103, is what made the difference. Read the myths and the
realties. |
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Tillinghast
- Tillinghast provides actuarial and management consulting to
financial services companies and advises other organizations on
their self-insurance programs. It is part of Towers Perrin, one of
the world's largest management consulting firms. |
 | Four
page analysis of malpractice situation.
(You
need free Adobe
Reader to read this.)
“With insurers
seeking substantial rate increases, health care providers are
caught in a financial squeeze because much more of their revenue
is derived from private health or government medical plans (than
in the 1970s and 1980s). These programs limit or prevent health
care providers from passing on costs to patients by increasing
their fees. Without revenue and rate relief, providers may find
the economics don’t work, which could lead many to abandon
their practices, threatening the public’s access to quality
health care.” |
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| Press
release announcing 2002 Report on liability costs
“The U.S. tort system cost $205 billion in 2001, or $721
per U.S. citizen, representing a 14.3% increase in tort costs
since the year 2000. At current levels, U.S. tort costs are
equivalent to a 5% tax on wages. These findings were reported by
Tillinghast –– Towers Perrin (Tillinghast) in U.S. Tort
Costs: 2002 Update –– the only study that tracks the cost of
the U.S. tort system from 1950 to 2001 and compares the growth
of tort costs with increases in various U.S. economic
indicators.” |
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Trial Lawyers Inc. - Below is a page
from a tort reform site specifically addressing medical malpractice.
It is unlikely to be regarded as a balanced view of the subject. |
| An
Unhealthy System
“Among Trial Lawyers, Inc.'s most mature
markets is that for medical malpractice. Today, soaring jury
verdicts are producing outstanding returns for the lawsuit
industry even as they drive up insurance costs and make it
difficult for patients in some areas to find doctors or hospital
care. Hard-pressed to pay skyrocketing premiums or even to find
coverage, doctors are abandoning risky procedures, retiring
early, and moving out of tort-friendly states.” |
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Agency for Health Research and Quality (Part of the
United States Department of Health & Human Services) |
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Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation
(Department of Health & Human Services) |
| HHS sponsored report
supporting President Bush's
call for national tort reform.
“Americans spend proportionately far more per
person on the costs of litigation than any other country in the world. The
excesses of the litigation system are an important contributor to
"defensive medicine"--the costly use of medical treatments by a
doctor for the purpose of avoiding litigation. As multimillion-dollar jury
awards have become more commonplace in recent years, these problems have
reached crisis proportions. Insurance premiums for malpractice are
increasing at a rapid rate, particularly in states that have not taken
steps to make their legal systems function more predictably and
effectively. Doctors are facing much higher costs of insurance, and some
cannot obtain insurance despite having never lost a single malpractice
judgment or even faced a claim.” |
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Center for Studying
Health System Change - A Robert Wood Johnson Foundation funded project. |
| Medical
Malpractice Liability Crisis Meets Market: Stress in Unexpected
Places
“While the causes of rapidly rising medical
malpractice insurance premiums remain contentious and unsettled, the
consequences are rippling through communities, threatening to diminish
patients' access to care and increase health care costs, with an uncertain
impact on quality, according to findings from the Center for Studying
Health System Change's (HSC) 2002-03 site visits to 12 nationally
representative communities. The severity of malpractice insurance problems
varied across communities, with some physicians changing how and where
they care for patients. For example, rather than treat patients in their
offices, more physicians are referring patients to emergency departments.
And many physicians, especially those practicing in high-risk specialties,
are unwilling to provide emergency department on-call coverage because of
malpractice liability concerns. “ |
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The Pew Charitable Trusts - An organization that supports
nonprofit activities in the areas of culture, education, the
environment, health and human services, public policy and religion. |
| The
Project on Medical Liability in Pennsylvania - A very balanced look at the Pennsylvania crisis.
"While cyclical changes within the insurance
industry are clearly a factor affecting the affordability of liability coverage in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, the
largest component is the rising cost of legal claims. No clear evidence yet exists as to the
effects of the malpractice crisis on Pennsylvania’s health care system. However, providers,
particularly hospitals, are under greater financial strain now than in past crises.” |
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