Recent News
Your Doctor Likely Orders More Tests Than You Actually Need
The surprising non-medical reasons why emergency room doctors order too many tests When you’re rushed to an emergency room, the doctors immediately order a battery of tests to figure out what’s wrong. But while scans and blood draws can tell them an incredible amount...
Facing legal roadblocks, medical malpractice claims dwindle
The number of medical malpractice claims fell to a record low in Wisconsin last year as the state-managed insurance fund for the doctors grew to more than $1.2 billion, newly released records show. Only 84 medical malpractice suits were filed in Wisconsin last year —...
Senate advances medical malpractice priority bill
SB 239, which creates a statutory cause of action for damages against health care providers, has left the Senate and moves to the House for consideration. Bill supporters say the bill will reduce incentives for “frivolous lawsuits.” Senate leaders released a statement...
Stefanik says Republican health care plan is coming
U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik spoke with members of the Medical Society of the State of New York Saturday in Lake Placid about a Republican-led effort to reform the Affordable Care Act. The Mirror Lake Inn’s conference room was filled with around two dozen doctors and...
Offer SGR Solutions Not Complaints
The American Medical Association (AMA) is doing a disservice by not weighing in on how to pay for repealing the sustainable growth rate (SGR) formula for physician reimbursement under Medicare, a member of Congress said Thursday. During the second day of a hearing on...
Congressman to AMA: Offer SGR Solutions Not Complaints
[vc_row type="full_width_background" bg_position="left top" bg_repeat="no-repeat" scene_position="center" text_color="dark" text_align="left" top_padding="5" bottom_padding="40" class="margin_row"][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner...
Mass. Malpractice Reforms Offer Faster, More Open Process For Injured Patients
When a woman had gall bladder surgery at a Massachusetts hospital in 2013, doctors noticed something suspicious on a CT scan that they thought could be ovarian cancer. But the recommendation that the patient get a pelvic ultrasound fell through the cracks. Months...
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s State of the State address
[vc_row][vc_column width="1/1"][vc_column_text]Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, members of the Legislature, members of the Board of Public Works, justices of the Supreme Court of Appeals, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and my fellow West Virginians. Forty years...
California’s Proposition 46 and the Uncertain Future of Medical Malpractice Liability Reform
On November 4, 2014, Californians voted against Proposition 46, an unprecedented statewide ballot initiative that would have, among other things, raised the $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages to $1.1 million and indexed it to the rate of inflation in future years....
When Is It About Money? Why Is It About Time?
Crisis, it is said, means both danger and opportunity. In medical liability reform, however, greater opportunity may lie in noncrisis. In this issue of JAMA, Mello and colleagues offer data suggesting that no crisis of the conventional sort currently exists in the...