Special Feature

Need is clear for national, state medical liability reform

Nearly two-thirds—61 percent—of physicians age 55 or older have been sued at some point in their careers. According to a recent AMA report (available to AMA members only), it cost $47,158, on average, to defend a physician against a medical liability claim in 2010—an increase of 63 percent since 2001.

The report also found that nearly 64 percent of closed claims in 2010 were dropped, dismissed or withdrawn. Even though those claims went nowhere, expenses to handle them still averaged $26,851.

Meanwhile, medical liability insurance premiums in many states remain higher than they were during the height of the last medical liability crisis, a separate AMA report (available to AMA members only) shows. About 5 percent of premiums increased by 10 percent or more in 2011; that's the largest proportion of upward premium changes since 2007, when 8 percent of premiums increased by 10 percent or more.

These figures illustrate what a costly venture medical liability continues to be for the nation's physicians and highlight the need for reforms that lower health care costs and keep physicians caring for patients.

A piece of federal legislation, the Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act, would institute various reforms at the national level while protecting state liability reform laws. Introduced last year in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, the HEALTH Act would help keep physicians' liability premiums stable and ensure that patients—not lawyers—receive more of the awards. The AMA and 100 other physician organizations, including state medical societies, support this comprehensive liability reform legislation.

Alongside efforts at the federal level, many states already have or are pursuing liability reforms, as American Medical News noted in a recent editorial. For example, California and Texas have enacted reforms that have stabilized their respective liability climates for physicians. Further, as of January 2011, about half of the states have enacted some variation of a cap on noneconomic damages, while six states have placed a cap on total damages.

With state legislatures reconvening soon for new legislative sessions, this is a perfect time to talk to your lawmakers about reforming the medical liability system in your state. The AMA can help you make medicine's case with a newly updated 36-page document that spells out the facts about the medical liability system and explains why reform is so vital. In addition, a one-page flier details how the current medical liability system fails physicians and patients alike.

The AMA also is calling for the testing and evaluation of proposed reforms, such as health courts, safe harbors for the practice of evidence-based medicine, and early disclosure and compensation models, to determine whether these innovations can improve the medical liability system for physicians and patients.

Learn more about what the AMA is doing to reduce medical liability premiums and to fix the broken medical liability system.