|
Special points of interest:
|
Ten Years after Miss. Tort Reform, Patients Prevail
Closed maternity wards. Skyrocketing costs and insurance premiums. Jackpot justice. Until medical liability reform was passed ten years ago in Mississippi, the effects of a medical liability crisis dominated the headlines in papers across the state. Today, a very different story is told – one of patients who have prevailed.
The Jackson, MS Clarion-Ledger goes into detail about the “then and now” of Mississippi’s health care system – with “then” being a time when patients were deprived of access to care.
“Sharkey-Issaquena (counties), a county-owned hospital, had closed the emergency room because they couldn’t pay the liability insurance premiums,” said former Governor Haley Barbour. “Doctors had quit delivering babies, had quit doing certain kinds of surgeries. There was at the time only one neurosurgeon between Jackson and Memphis who would do emergency surgery. … People were having to drive an hour for someone having a baby, and bad things can happen in an hour.”
Since then, the number of lawsuits filed in Mississippi Circuit Courts went from 10,617 in 2002 to 3,551 in 2012 – allowing physicians to spend more time in the exam room, and less time in a court room.
And according to the Medical Assurance Co. of Mississippi, the insurance company covering about 75 percent of the state’s doctors, premiums were, on average, $4,000 in 1999, peaked at nearly $10,000 in 2004, dropped back down to $4,000 by 2009 and are about $3,500 now.
With lower costs and an abundance of physicians throughout Mississippi, the ten years since reform have brought health care benefits for patients throughout the state. Click here to read about Mississippi’s liability reform milestone.
Lower Medical Liability Costs – But Not for Long
Connecticut hospitals have seen a slow but steady decline in medical liability insurance costs in recent years, but hospital officials warn the lower costs may simply be the calm before a strong tsunami of rising rates and costs.
“Physicians are not seeing the increases they saw, but they haven’t gotten relief from where rates used to be,” said Todd Liu, assistant to the president at Griffin Hospital in Derby. “From an industry standpoint, premium levels for hospitals and physicians are still high.”
While Connecticut policymakers have taken the initial steps to reform the liability system, by requiring review of cases by a medical expert in the same field as the defending physician, they have unfortunately not placed reasonable limits on noneconomic damages – and therefore, have had limited success in reigning in costs.
New patient safety measures, initiated by the Connecticut Hospital Association, are reaping positive rewards for patients, but costs remain a serious issue for hospitals.
Medical centers still spend millions of dollars each year on insurance and payouts – reaching eight figures for some institutions – and when lawsuits are filed they can take up to seven years to navigate through Connecticut courts. Paying outside counsel to defend a suit can cost up to $400,000, Liu stated.
While the latest numbers out of Connecticut are a mixed bag for patients and physicians, the odds will only improve when a comprehensive approach to liability reform is taken. To read more about the liability outlook in Connecticut, click here.
Apologies Accepted from Wisconsin Physicians
Recent legislation signed into law in Wisconsin will allow physicians to apologize and provide compassion to patients who have experienced an adverse outcome following a medical procedure, without the fear of their sympathies being used against them in legal proceedings.
Similar to “I’m Sorry” laws passed in over 35 states, the bill encompasses statements, gestures, and conduct that express “apology, benevolence, compassion, condolence, fault, liability, remorse, responsibility, or sympathy to a patient or his or her relative or representative.”
Dr. Richard Dart of the Wisconsin Medical Society, a proponent of the bill, says it “will foster more patient-physician interactions exactly when they’re needed most.”
Under the new law, patients’ rights are preserved, while also allowing for and promoting honest and sympathetic conversations between doctors and patients or their relatives.
To read more about how Wisconsin has improved patient-provider communications, click here.
|
