OBJECTIVES The widespread adoption of health information technology (IT) will help contain health care costs by decreasing inefficiencies in healthcare delivery. Theoretically, health IT could lower hospitals' malpractice insurance premiums (MIPs) and improve the quality of care by reducing the number and size of malpractice. This study examines the relationship between health IT investment and...

BACKGROUND Malpractice issues within the United States remain a critical factor for family physicians providing obstetric care. Although tort reform is being widely discussed, little has been written regarding the malpractice crisis from a risk management perspective. METHODS Between 1989 and 1998, a 10-year risk management study at the UC Davis Health System provided a unique collaboration b...

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS To review malpractice cases involving complications following tonsillectomy. STUDY DESIGN Retrospective analysis at a tertiary medical center of jury verdict reports within the LexisNexis (Dayton, OH) database submitted after tonsillectomy malpractice cases. METHODS The LexisNexis MEGA Jury Verdicts and Settlements database was reviewed from 1984 through 2010 for compl...

Title of Document: THE IMPACT OF MEDICAL MALPRACTICE REFORMS ON ACCESS TO HOSPITAL-BASED OBSTETRIC SERVICES Lan Zhao, Doctor of Philosophy, 2005 Dissertation Directed By: Professor William N. Evans Department of Economics Policy-makers and public health researchers are concerned that rapidly rising medical malpractice insurance premiums and reduced supply of malpractice insurance coverage have ...

In this paper, we examine the influence of medical malpractice tort reform on the level of private health insurance company losses incurred. We employ a natural experiment framework centered on a series of tort reform measures enacted in Texas in 2003 that drastically altered the medical malpractice environment in the state. The results of a difference-in-differences analysis using a variety of...

Numerous observers have expressed growing concerns regarding health care delivery, medical malpractice, and litigation against health care providers, although, for years, all fifty of the states have instituted and applied a broad spectrum of medical malpractice reforms while experimenting with various other measures. Some commentators believe that the health care delivery system is now experie...

Numerous malpractice lawsuits have been filed against health care providers by patients who claimed that, upon suffering a serious injury after refusing care, they did not fully understand the potential consequences of such refusal. In a typical situation, a patient alleges that the health care provider was negligent in not fully disclosing the risks of treatment refusal. Coupled with this alle...

Interventional radiology is an invasive specialty with the potential for errors as with other invasive specialties. A critical analysis of the different types of errors may help radiologist undertake the corrective measures. Standardize interventional procedures with protocols applicable to clinical practice are necessary to avoid the malpractice and, therefore, the related medical-legal issues...

The legal system depends on the medical expert for evidence. Doctors readily complain about frivolous cases that go to trial, yet a lawyer cannot bring a frivolous claim to trial without a physician expert witness stating that the claim is not frivolous. An insurance company cannot raise premiums without medical expert witnesses servicing the increasing litigation against the insured. Physician...

between malpractice claims and adverse events due to negligence. N Engl J Med 1991;325:245–251. 6. Rolph JE, Kravitz RL, McGuigan K. Malpractice claims data as a quality improvement tool. Is targeting effective? JAMA 1991; 266:2093–2097. 7. Institute of Medicine. To err is human: building a safer health system. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2000. 8. Levinson W, Roter DL, Mullooly JP, ...