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The Business of
Health Care Report
Lawsuit abuse and mass litigation have driven the number of malpractice suits filed to record numbers. Texas ranks fifth nationally in the amount of dollars paid out by insurers to cover medical malpractice jury award losses. In 1999, one out of every five Texas physicians faced a malpractice claim, according to a study conducted by the Texas Medical Association. Worse yet, the study found that 80 percent of the claims filed against Texas physicians were without merit, meaning that millions of dollars are wasted each year. Of the cases tried, the median award rose 46% between 1997 and 1998, according to Jury Verdict Research. As insurers have been forced to pay out increasingly
large jury verdicts and settlements for malpractice claims, doctors' malpractice premiums have increased
dramatically. Even the most conservative increases are running 10 to 18 percent. For example, now in
Beaumont, Texas, there remains only one neurosurgeon in practice; others have left town because medical
malpractice insurance premiums are now upwards of $176,000 annually. Physicians in many states are
unable to find insurance they can afford, especially in high-risk areas like OB/GYN, anesthesiology,
cardiovascular, emergency medicine and family practice. Squeezed by lower reimbursement rates imposed by
managed care organizations, Medicare and escalating malpractice insurance premiums, many physicians
are taking early retirement or having to move their practices to other areas of the country with lower
premiums. More about malpractice in future issues of this report. Sources: AMEDNews.com, AMA, American Health Consultants Healthcare Risk Management, insure.com For Texas Health Resources
and its family of hospitals - Harris Methodist Hospitals, Presbyterian
Healthcare System and Arlington Memorial Hospital - I'm CEO Doug
Hawthorne with "The Business of Health Care Report" on NewsRadio
1080 KRLD.
©
2002 Texas Health Resources |
I’m Doug Hawthorne, President and CEO of Texas Health Resources, with
"The Business of Health Care Report" on 