Wyoming moves toward tort referendum

Meanwhile, the Illinois Legislature wraps up without passing any bills aimed at offering physicians liability insurance relief.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Aug. 16, 2004.

Obstetrician-gynecologist Jacques Beveridge, MD, is suspending his out-of-state job search thanks to action in a Wyoming special session in July.

When the liability insurance carrier he had been using announced in March that it would leave the state this year, Dr. Beveridge, who is from Lander, Wyo., was left looking for $100,000 to pay for tail coverage. That was on top of his regular premium to his new carrier due in August.

Finding the money wasn't going to be easy, given that Dr. Beveridge is a solo physician only five years into practice and still paying off hefty student loans.

But, he said, new laws that set money aside for doctors to borrow from the state to pay their tail coverage and that boost Medicaid reimbursement for deliveries will allow him to stay in his native Wyoming for now.

"I was very much in a short-term crunch to make decisions for me and my family," Dr. Beveridge said. "After the session, I am relieved. The Legislature is willing to move forward with relief."

Doctors providing obstetrical care to Medicaid patients will be paid for two years at 90% of the statewide average of billed charges. This is a notable increase, Dr. Beveridge said. More than half of his patients are on Medicaid.

Under the new loan program, physicians who choose to borrow money from the state must agree to stay in Wyoming for three years and to pay back the loan in five years.

In addition to those bills, the Legislature passed a measure that places a tort reform question on the November ballot. The referendum will ask voters to decide whether the Wyoming Constitution should be altered to allow the Legislature to consider capping noneconomic damages awarded in medical malpractice lawsuits.