Malpractice Reform And Health Reform

Do Health Reform and Malpractice Reform Fit Together?

Let's make a deal: trading malpractice reform for health reform.

Physician leadership is required to improve the efficiency and reliability of the US health care system, but many physicians remain lukewarm about the changes needed to attain these goals. Malpractice liability-a sore spot for decades-may exacerbate physician resistance. The politics of malpractice have become so lawyer-centric that recognizing the availability of broader gains from trade in to...

Malpractice crisis and reform.

Medical liability coverage has become increasingly expensive and scarce since 2001, especially for obstetrics and other high-risk specialties. Physicians, whose own fees are constrained, see this as a crisis needing tort reform to cap payouts. Plaintiffs' lawyers fight caps; they blame insurance trends and call for stronger regulation of insurers and physicians. Doctors' arguments are somewhat ...

Medical malpractice reform and employer-sponsored health insurance premiums.

OBJECTIVE Tort reform may affect health insurance premiums both by reducing medical malpractice premiums and by reducing the extent of defensive medicine. The objective of this study is to estimate the effects of noneconomic damage caps on the premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING Employer premium data and plan/establishment characteristics were obtained...

Medical Malpractice Reform in Three Southern States

Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi have adopted medical malpractice reform legislation in response to the three crises in medical liability insurance. In 1975, Louisiana adopted damages caps, created a patient compensation fund, and mandated the submission of claims to screening panels. In 1987, Alabama adopted damages caps and modified the collateral source rule, but these reforms were declar...