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The Business of Health Care Report
My topic today is medical liability
reform. By all accounts, medical malpractice
insurance coverage has reached crisis levels. Physicians are protesting skyrocketing rates
for liability coverage. Some doctors are closing their practices or leaving Texas. And
patients - many in the state's most underserved areas - are finding health care scarce
or nonexistent. The American Medical Association has
identified Texas as one of 12 states that are in serious danger of doctor shortages because
of the sharp increase in medical malpractice insurance premiums. In June 2002, the American
Hospital Association found that more than 1,300 health care institutions have been affected
by the medical malpractice crisis. The causes of the medical malpractice
insurance crisis are many: exorbitant jury awards, settlements predicated on fears of large
jury awards and increasing numbers of frivolous malpractice claims. Every Texan deserves access to medical
care. Yet medical malpractice lawsuits are limiting access to medical care and driving up
health care costs for all Texans. We must resolve the problem. Real changes in Texas' tort laws must
be swiftly enacted if we are to avert a major crisis. Reforms should include caps on
economic damages and limits on plaintiff attorney contingency fees. The AMA has called Texas one of the
five worst litigation environments in the United States, and lawsuit abuse affects every
facet of our lives. Lawsuit abuse hampers economic development, job creation and patient
access to vitally important medical care. The recent exodus of physicians and practice
groups from the state, and the threatened shut down of high-risk medical services and
trauma centers, is a wake-up call that must be heeded. 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. Sources:
©
2003 Texas Health Resources |
I'm Doug Hawthorne, President and CEO of Texas Health Resources, with
"The Business of Health Care Report" on 