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Physician Malpractice Liability Immunity

7 Responses

1. Hope, on January 26, 2009 at 11:31 AM said:

   Defensive Medicine,

   Behavioral psychologists tell us that doctors, like most people, tend to experience losses more intensely than gains, and evaluate risks in isolation. So, it’s no surprise that they practice defensive medicine and order an abundance of tests and/or procedures as an inappropriate risk management tool.

   Similarly, in healthcare economics, we have seen goaded physicians prefer financial products like the guaranteed minimum death benefit of variable annuities, or the assurance that comes with long term care or traditional cash value life insurance policies, despite decidedly higher costs. Some other physicians enter denial mode and eschew the potential practice impact of HIPAA and Balanced Budget Act risks; self referral risks; OSHA, DEA, EPA, OCR, or managed care contract risks; employee, expert witness, peer review and on-call risks; and even educational debt load risks, among so many others.

   In fact, this has become such a contentious issue that we have codified our experiences, tools and techniques in the new book: “Risk Management and Insurance Planning for Physicians and Advisors”, edited by Dr. David E. Marcinko, MBA, CFP©, CMP© of the Institute of Medical Business Advisors, Inc:

   http://www.jbpub.com/catalog/0763733423/table_of_contents.htm

   The book contains a Foreword from Lloyd M. Krieger, MD, MBA of the UCLA School of Medicine and has been referenced by the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA); American College of Physician Executives (ACPE), American College of Emergency Physicians (ACPE) and American Medical Association (AMA), among many other medial and business schools.

   It is an essential textbook because it explains the background, theory, and practicalities of medical risk management and is helpful to all doctors trying to survive in this litigious environment, or attempting to make good decisions about the insurance risks they face.

   With time and money at a premium, and so much information packed into one well-organized resource, this book should be on the desk of every medical practitioner.

   Hope R. Hetico, RN, MHA
   http://www.MedicalBusinessAdvisors.com
   Norcross, Georgia

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2. Arnie, on October 12, 2009 at 10:03 AM said:

   Malpractice Reform Would Save $54B: Study

   Reforming medical-malpractice laws could save the federal government $54 billion over 10 years and slash doctors’ and hospitals’ insurance costs by 10 percent, according to a new congressional study. But, there’s one problem – none of the Democratic run proposals advancing in Congress include any of the reforms covered in the Congressional Budget Office [CBO] Analysis.

   Savings would be realized by reducing “defensive” medicine costs that doctors use to avoid litigation and through lower malpractice payments. That means that doctors would order fewer unnecessary, but costly lab tests. The CBO estimates that healthcare providers are paying $35 billon this year for malpractice liability.

   Source: Carl Campanile, NY Post [10/9/09]
   Arnie

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3. Brian J. Knabe MD, on April 23, 2010 at 10:25 AM said:

   On Medical Malpractice Reform

   I certainly agree that some element of medical malpractice reform is better than none. Unfortunately Democrats have taken this type of reform off the table as they supposedly work to reduce healthcare costs.

   Senator Enzi’s proposal is interesting. But why should this reform be limited to volunteer service in community health centers?

   The care that physicians provide in their own offices for Medicaid patients is essentially volunteer or charity care, given extremely low reimbursement rates. If legislation is passed to remove malpractice risk at community health centers while this risk remains in place in the private office setting, more patients will be forced to seek care at government-sponsored clinics as their options in the open market dwindle. Dependence on government will continue to grow!

   Brian J. Knabe, MD
   Savant Capital Management, Inc®.
   [Certified Medical Planner™ candidate]
   http://www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.com

   190 Buckley Drive
   Rockford, IL 61107
   Tel 815-227-0300
   Fax 815-226-2195
   bknabe@savantcapital.com

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4. Ann Miller RN MHA, on August 20, 2014 at 11:21 AM said:

   Apologize-and-Pay Laws Don’t Keep Docs Out of Data Bank

   Physicians who avoid the meat grinder of litigation when their insurers pay malpractice plaintiffs out of court under state “disclosure, apology and offer” (DA&O) laws still must be reported to the federal National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has ruled. The recent decision dampens the hope in some quarters of organized medicine that such forms of alternative dispute resolution — potentially faster, more transparent, and less adversarial than a lawsuit — can keep physicians out of what they view as a professional Hall of Shame.

   Third parties such as medical liability insurers and self-insured hospital systems are responsible for reporting any malpractice payments made on behalf of a physician to the NPDB. In turn, hospitals and healthcare insurers routinely check the data bank, operated by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) within HHS, to vet physicians.

   Robert Lowes
   [Medscape News 8/18/14]

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5. Butch, on October 14, 2014 at 2:30 PM said:

   MedMal Premiums For Docs Nudge Down Slightly

   Did U know that for the seventh straight year, malpractice insurance premiums have decreased for three bellwether specialties, and even for sticker-shocked obstetrician-gynecologists on Long Island in New York, according to an annual premium survey just released by Medical Liability Monitor (MLM)?

   Butch

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6. Ann Miller RN MHA, on April 1, 2015 at 12:05 AM said:

   Providers Can’t Sue State Medicaid Over Rates: Supreme Court

   Private healthcare providers cannot sue state Medicaid agencies over low reimbursement rates, the U.S. Supreme Court just decided in a 5-4 decision, reversing a lower court’s ruling.

   Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in the majority opinion that the supremacy clause of the U.S. Constitution, which says federal laws reign supreme over state ones, does not allow providers to sue state Medicaid agencies over rates.

   Scalia also wrote that the Medicaid Act implicitly does not allow private parties to enforce a part of the law that requires state plans to “assure that payments are consistent with efficiency, economy, and quality of care” while “safeguard(ing) against unnecessary utilization of … care and services.” Congress, he concluded, did not mean for the court to be able to get around that part of the law.

   Source: Lisa Schencker
   [Modern Healthcare – 3/31/15]

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7. Ann Miller RN MHA, on February 3, 2016 at 2:52 PM said:

   Small Number of Physicians Linked to Many Malpractice Claims

   A small group of physicians accounts for a substantial share of all claims, and an ability to reliably identify those physicians at an early stage could guide efforts to improve heathcare, according to a new study.

   A substantial share of all malpractice claims in the United States is attributable to a small number of physicians, according to a study led by researchers at Stanford University and the University of Melbourne. The team found that just 1 percent of practicing physicians accounted for 32 percent of paid malpractice claims over a decade. The study also found that claim–prone physicians had a number of distinctive characteristics.

   “The fact that these frequent flyers looked quite different from their colleagues — in terms of specialty, gender, age, and several other characteristics — was the most exciting finding,” said David Studdert, LLB, ScD, MPH, professor of medicine and of law at Stanford. “It suggests that it may be possible to identify high–risk physicians before they accumulate troubling track records, and then do something to stop that happening.” Studdert, who is also a core faculty member at Stanford Health Policy, is the lead author of the study, published Jan. 28 in The New England Journal of Medicine.

   Source: Stanford School of Medicine News via MDLinx [2/2/16]

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