PROFESSIONRocketing liability rates squeeze medical schoolsThe latest victims of rising premiums fear that resulting fiscal problems will hurt their ability to maintain quality education.By Myrle Croasdale, amednews staff. May 20, 2002. The shock of soaring premiums for medical liability insurance has U.S. medical schools reeling and small schools, already facing a raft of budgetary woes from Medicare cutbacks to reductions in graduate medical education funding, are finding themselves especially vulnerable. The University of Nevada School of Medicine in Reno could be forced to close if it can't find affordable liability insurance by June 30. In West Virginia, Marshall University's Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine in Huntington has cut its pathology program and is trimming resident class size. Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in Hershey is cutting faculty salaries, which will make it hard to land top researchers. "The sudden, very large increase in expenses that were not anticipated or budgeted is creating a great deal of anxiety," says Jordan J. Cohen, MD, president of the Assn. of American Medical Colleges. While the immediate stressor is finding the money to pay the unexpected increase, the long-term concern is whether schools already facing fiscal problems may now find it difficult to sustain their standards for quality. "It raises the question of how well schools will be able to fulfill their goals of maintaining high standards for patient care and services, research and education. It's not a question of falling off a cliff, but a question of sliding down a slippery slope toward less quality," Dr. Cohen says. Even more problematic is the potential that the liability insurance crisis will keep students from considering a career in medicine.
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Copyright 2002 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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