• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Jackson & Harris Survey: Physicians Look to New President for Medical Liability Relief

Posted on: Friday, 29 October 2004, 12:00 CDT

ATLANTA, Oct. 29 /PRNewswire/ -- With the presidential election only days away, survey results from a leading physician-recruitment firm indicate physicians want federal relief from the pain of soaring medical liability insurance premiums, Jackson & Harris (J&H) President Chuck Harris says.

Earlier this year, more than 800 practicing physicians responded to the agency's national online survey about how malpractice insurance costs are affecting their ability to practice medicine. Some of the highlights:

- 38 percent of respondents in "crisis states*," as defined by the

American Medical Association (AMA), and 29 percent of all respondents,

had seen premium increases of more than 100 percent in the past five

years.

- Most respondents (92 percent), and 88 percent in states the AMA defines

as "showing problem signs," said they are unhappy with reform efforts

in their states.

- Of 816 respondents to the March 2004 survey, 70 percent favored federal

legislation to address the crisis.

- 86 percent of all respondents said malpractice reform should apply

uniformly across the U.S.

"State-by-state efforts are taking too long," Harris said. "Medical liability is taking much of the joy out of practicing medicine, and physicians need relief now."

On Tuesday, patients in four states -- Florida, Nevada, Oregon and Wyoming -- will vote on medical liability reform measures designed to limit lawyers' contingency fees; restore, or delete exceptions to, caps on non-economic damages; and weed out frivolous lawsuits to reduce malpractice insurance premiums and keep doctors in their respective states.

Bush and Kerry Acknowledge Crisis

With 70 percent of respondents favoring a federal solution to the crisis, the Jackson & Harris survey highlighted medical professionals' keen interest in the 2004 presidential race. While both major-party presidential candidates agree the malpractice insurance crisis must be addressed, George W. Bush and John Kerry differ in their proposed solutions.

Saying Americans are paying the estimated $100-billion cost of junk lawsuits, President Bush proposes a $250,000 limit on non-economic damages while fully compensating the injured for economic loss. The President would reserve punitive damages for justified cases, impose time limits on filing lawsuits, and require defendants to pay judgments proportional to fault.

Senator Kerry's plan focuses on limiting the number of frivolous malpractice cases. It would require a "qualified specialist" to certify a malpractice case's merit before it could move forward and encourage binding mediation before the case proceeds to trial. A "three-strikes-and-you're-out" provision would forbid lawyers who file three frivolous cases from bringing another suit for a decade. Kerry opposes punitive damages unless intentional misconduct, gross negligence or reckless indifference to life is established. Finally, Kerry would work to eliminate "special privileges that allow insurance companies to collude to increase medical malpractice premiums."

Seemingly validating President Bush's position, a new Wyoming Healthcare Commission actuarial study (complete report available at http://www.wyominghealthcarecommission.org/ ) found capping non-economic damages at $250,000 could lead to a 15-percent reduction in medical liability losses. The Coalition for Affordable and Reliable Healthcare (CARH), an organization of health care providers, businesses and citizens working for medical liability reform, last week praised the Wyoming study. Wyoming is among 20 medical liability "crisis states" identified by the AMA.

Go Bare or Get Out

Meanwhile, increasing numbers of lawsuits and skyrocketing malpractice insurance rates are changing where and how U.S. doctors practice medicine, Harris observed.

- In the J&H survey, 41 percent of crisis-state respondents had

considered dropping their coverage altogether ("going bare").

- Among crisis-state respondents, 60 percent** had considered moving to

another state.

- 77 percent had either changed the way they treat patients or stopped

performing certain procedures.

"As this crisis continues to worsen, more and more doctors will likely go bare (practice medicine without liability coverage) or leave medicine altogether," Harris said.

He recalled an Associated Press (AP) story this summer that echoed the J&H survey results. It covered a growing trend in Florida of physicians signing over all assets to their wives and dropping liability coverage in order to keep practicing medicine. As of July, more than 3,000 physicians -- out of 89,000 licensed doctors in the state -- no longer carried liability insurance coverage. "Doctors say their only other options were to leave the state or leave the profession," according to the AP.

Regarding the "middle ground" of practicing defensive medicine (changing treatment methods or no longer performing high-risk procedures), 72 percent of J&H survey respondents reported making these types of changes. For example, half of all respondents reported having diverted patients they considered "high risk" to a hospital emergency department. Seventy-seven percent told Jackson & Harris they'd hesitate to accept referrals from physicians with little or no liability coverage because of increased vulnerability to malpractice lawsuits.

Out of 816 respondents to the J&H survey, 739 indicated they practiced independently. Among those independent physicians, 64 percent said they had considered seeking employment at a hospital or other institution for a greater degree of liability protection.

"The fact is doctors' self-protection efforts reduce patients' access to healthcare," Harris asserts. "The AMA reports 'severe problems' with patient access in 18 states already."

Jackson & Harris is a full-service, dedicated, permanent physician search company founded in 2002 by physician-staffing pioneer Richard L. (Rick) Jackson and industry veteran Charles (Chuck) Harris. Jackson and Harris founded the Atlanta-area firm to provide physician recruitment and placement with integrity, personalized service and unquestionable results to hospitals, health systems, clinics and group practices across the U.S.

* AMA defines the following as medical liability "crisis states":

Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky,

Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York,

North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington, West

Virginia and Wyoming. Massachusetts was not included on the list when

Jackson & Harris conducted its March 2004 survey.

** A subsequent online poll conduced by J&H's parent company,

LocumTenens.com LLC, put the number of physicians who had considered

moving to another state to reduce medical liability costs at

83 percent.

Jackson & Harris

CONTACT: Billie Wickstrom, +1-678-992-1247, for Jackson & Harris

Web site: http://www.wyominghealthcarecommission.org/

Source: PRNewswire

More News in this Category