Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report Features Medical Malpractice News From Three US States

Main Category: Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 08 Jan 2006 - 0:00 PDT

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The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report rounds up recent news about medical malpractice in three states. Summaries appear below.

• Maryland: Republican leaders in the Maryland legislature say a 2% HMO tax aimed at defraying medical malpractice premiums in the state will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums, the Washington Times reports (Miller, Washington Times, 12/26). The tax is part of malpractice reform legislation Gov. Robert Ehrlich (R) vetoed in January 2005; the state General Assembly subsequently voted to override the veto (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 1/28/05). The tax subsidizes payments to malpractice insurers with the aim of limiting increases in malpractice premiums. CareFirst BlueChoice -- the largest HMO in Maryland, with 366,000 members -- said recently it will increase premiums to pay for the tax. Optimum Choice, Aetna Health, United Healthcare Mid-Atlantic and three smaller HMOs also said they will increase premiums to pay for the tax. The Medical Mutual Liability Insurance Society of Maryland -- the state's largest malpractice insurer -- collected more than $27 million in 2005 through a subsidy funded by the HMO tax. Medical Mutual has not proposed a rate increase for 2006; the insurer has increased rates 66.8% since 2003. James McMahan, acting commissioner of Medical Mutual, said it is too soon to know if the subsidy program will ultimately reduce rates. State Sen. Andrew Harris (R) said, "Unfortunately, patients in Maryland ... are the only ones who will pay for this costly lesson in basic common-sense economics." However, state House Speaker Michael Busch (D) said, "It has worked. Those who voted against it are grasping at any straw or vine to support their position" (Washington Times, 12/26/05).
  
  
• Pennsylvania: The largest malpractice insurers in Pennsylvania did not increase premiums in 2005, one of a number of signs some observers say signals the end of the state's malpractice "crisis," the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. According to the Inquirer, the issue gained prominence beginning in 2000, when many Pennsylvania doctors started saying they would limit services or leave the state because of increases in malpractice insurance premiums. However, the number of malpractice lawsuits filed in the state decreased by more than one-third from 2000 to 2004. Furthermore, spending by the Mcare Fund -- a state program to pay malpractice awards and settlements between $500,000 and $1 million -- decreased from $320.3 million in 2004 to $232.6 million in 2005. William Sage, who led the Project on Medical Liability in Pennsylvania -- paid for by the Pew Charitable Trusts -- for the past three years, said, "In Pennsylvania, the malpractice crisis is over." Gov. Edward Rendell (D) said, "It is clear from every bit of evidence that the crisis has abated significantly." However, Andrew Wigglesworth -- president of the Delaware Valley Healthcare Council, which represents hospitals in the state -- said, "The crisis is not over. The only thing that has happened is some moderation in the rate of increase of our premiums, but we still have issues in terms of recruitment and retention of physicians" (Goldstein, Philadelphia Inquirer, 1/2).
  
  
• Utah: State Sen. Peter Knudson (R) is developing legislation that would prevent volunteer medical professionals who receive some compensation for providing charity care services from being sued in many cases, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. Utah's current law protects only uncompensated medical workers providing charity care from being sued for negligence. Such volunteers face liability only if their care is "grossly negligent" or "willful and wanton." Knudson would like to expand the legal protection to include medical professionals who receive a salary or reimbursements for expenses. He said he believes more medical professionals would volunteer if they did not have to worry about liability (Hamilton, Salt Lake Tribune, 12/29/05).

"Reprinted with permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation . © 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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