GOVERNMENT

HHS pilots way to quicker settlements

The Bush administration believes the innovative approach to medical liability cases could prove to be a model for the private sector.

By Tanya Albert, AMNews staff. Oct. 11, 2004.

Doctors often wish for a quicker, simpler system to handle medical malpractice cases. And the federal government hopes it has hit on a method that just might work.

The Dept. of Health and Human Services in September rolled out a pilot program in which patients and the agency will make settlement offers through a third-party administrator. If the amounts match or the patient requests less than HHS offers, the patient receives the money and the case is settled.

The "Early Offers" initiative will be open to patients treated by employees of federally funded community health centers that the HHS Health Resources and Services Administration oversees and to patients treated in the Indian Health Service program.

"We need to bring common sense into cases of medical liability so that we're not denying patients access to health care because doctors can't afford to practice medicine," HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said in a speech given in Manchester, N.H.

The American Medical Association, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American College of Emergency Physicians are among the organizations that welcome the initiative.

ACEP generally supports programs that allow timely compensation for patients truly injured by medical negligence and that prevent wasted time in the courtroom, said Texas emergency physician Angela Gardner, MD, a member of the college's board of directors.

"On first glance, this looks like a program that we would support," said Dr. Gardner. She noted that ACEP's board had not yet had a chance to discuss the new pilot program. "I'm interested to see what happens over time."

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