President Bush consistently has called for medical liability reforms that will combat “skyrocketing medical liability insurance rates” that “force physicians to restrict their services or close their practices.”
However, tomorrow’s Health Affairs will publish an article that says empirical evidence from AMA surveys contradicts this claim. The authors, led by Marc Rodwin, a professor of law at Suffolk University Law School in Boston, conclude:
To paraphrase Mark Twain’s comment on reading his obituary in a newspaper, the reported recent demise of medical practice as a result of rising malpractice premiums has been greatly exaggerated. The perception that increased malpractice premiums cause a crisis is at odds with evidence from the AMA surveys…. Claims that the level of malpractice premiums justify a tax credit to prevent physicians from leaving the practice of medicine are hyperbole, especially when physicians’ income is viewed compared with that of others.
To access the article today only, click here.
Starting Tuesday, you can access the article here.
We'll give more detail in HFMA News.
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