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DJP 2-16-2005 AMA Update - Medical Liability Reform in the news; testimony in Congress; Big win in Georgia! Dateline: 30, 000 Feet above the Land of Liberty
ITEM ONE: Travel tales (This paragraph can be skipped unless you delight in the fact that traveling less reduces stress.) En route to Washington, DC from New Orleans. Started off as not an ideal travel day. Usual delay at security checking out electronic gadgets. Then New Orleans airport covered with fog. One of the two runways has a pothole problem and closed for 9 months for repairs. The only remaining runway had a waiting list. My scheduled departure flight had not landed yet and was in a holding pattern so long the plane got low on fuel and had to be diverted to Mississippi. Then the excitement of finding an alternative flight. Nice lady at Delta put me on a flight next door tha! t was departing. This was possible only because I did not have checked luggage. Lost my first class high mileage upgrade. In Atlanta, I ran to make my connection to Washington, DC. En route to the next plane got referred a major interview that I almost completed on the plane just prior to takeout. The reported and I will finish up as soon as I land in Washington. Now I feel better telling you of the latest episode of the joy of travel. Now on to the news.
ITEM TWO: AMA Testimony tomorrow Small Business Committee of U.S. House of Representatives I will testify at 10AM tomorrow on behalf of our AMA and patients pointing out the adverse effects of the current broken medical liability system on the practice of Medicine and care for patients. Stay tuned and monitor AMA web site.
ITEM THREE: AMA Testimony on Sustainable Growth Rate Formula (Actually the Unsustainable Growth Rate Formula) Our wonderful AMA Speaker, Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD, gave this testimony. See press release below.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 10, 2005
AMA URGES CONGRESS TO FIX THE BROKEN MEDICARE PHYSICIAN PAYMENT FORMULA; STOP PAYMENT CUTS Testifies at House Ways and Means Subcommittee Hearing
WASHINGTON -- Renewing its call for Congress to replace the broken Medicare physician payment formula, the American Medical Association (AMA) testified today before the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health.
“The Medicare physician payment formula is flawed and permanently broken,” AMA Trustee Nancy H. Nielsen, M.D. said in testimony today. “Cumulative payment cuts of 31 percent are expected beginning in January 2006 through 2013. These cuts present a serious threat to patient access to care.”
“Congress and the Administration must act now to replace the current physician payment formula, as recommended by MedPAC,” Dr. Nielsen urged the committee. “Currently, the payment updates are tied to the economy, but the medical needs of Medicare patients do not wane when the American economy slows.”
While Congress works to replace the formula, the AMA urges the Administration to remove prescription drugs administered in physician offices from the payment formula. The AMA is encouraged by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Administrator Mark McClellan’s recent public comments that CMS has been working with the AMA to identify administrative actions that will prevent payment cuts.
The AMA is also interested in ways to improve quality and efficiency in the Medicare program, and has taken the lead in developing evidence-based quality improvement measures. However, in order to truly improve quality in the Medicare program, policymakers must first provide stable economics for the physicians who treat Medicare’s seniors so that access to care does not suffer.
“It is critical to replace the flawed physician payment formula to allow quality initiatives to flourish,” Dr Nielsen said. “Physicians will be hard pressed to undertake quality initiatives, such as information technology, if they are facing steep payment cuts.”
The AMA appreciates the hard work and leadership of Chairman Johnson, Ranking Member Stark and each Member of the Subcommittee in addressing the Medicare physician payment cuts.
### Contact: Katherine M. Hatwell Public Information Officer, Washington Media Relations (202) 789-7419
ITEM FOUR: Liability Reform activities in the states: CHECK out GEORGIA! Monitor the AMA web site and go to state medical association sites for additional information. For example, big news in Georgia! Visit Medical Association of Georgia web site. Medical liability reform has passed House and Senate and it went to the Governor today for signature. Congratulations to our colleagues in Georgia. They never gave up! They showed dedication and passion during my visits there. Facts don't cease to exist to exist because they are ignored. Eventually the pressure builds for common sense reforms. This persistence also must be maintained at the Federal level.
More details as we analyze the final version that goes to the Governor. The cap on non-economic damages is $350,000 for the physician and "other health providers" class and $350,000 per facility up to $700,000 from all medical facilities. This Senate Bill 3 contains 15 sections and thus many different items. For example, Section 5 contains a "downside" risk for being unreasonable during settlement negotiations.
ITEM FIVE: Sample interviews and writings on liability reform. See AMA web site for much more. February 7, 2005 issue of Modern Healthcare
Modern Healthcare 360 N. Michigan Ave. Chicago, IL 60601-3806
To the Editor:
Todd Sloane urges readers to “check the facts” in his recent editorial (“The Wrong Solution,” Jan. 17, p.24), but he leaves out some of the most compelling facts that point to the urgent need for medical liability reform.
The fact that a small number of verdicts are ever issued from the many lawsuits brought against physicians only underscores the fact that reforms are needed. The overwhelming majority of medical lawsuits have nothing to do with physician negligence. In fact, 74 percent of the lawsuits filed against physicians are closed without payment. Of those that do go to court, juries find the physician not negligent 86 percent of the time. That’s little solace to a physician who has spent countless hours in the courtroom instead of caring for patients. Even when a physician “wins,” the cost to defend such a case is about $90,000. The average obstetrician is sued 2 to 3 times in a career. Clearly, being the victim of a lawsuit does not make one a bad doctor.
In the uncommon case where a jury finds a patient harmed by negligence, it’s the lawyer who really wins - walking away with one-third to one-half of the monetary award. Lawyers even take one-third to one-half of the patient’s medical expenses.
The American Medical Association supports aggressive efforts to improve patient safety, from increased funding for state medical boards to passage of federal legislation that encourages confidential error reporting by health care professionals. We also believe that truly negligent physicians should be held accountable for their actions. But as the above statistics indicate, many good, competent, caring physicians are sued without merit.
Whether Mr. Sloane believes it or not, sky-rocketing lawsuit payouts, and the cost of defending a case, have taken a toll on the practice of medicine. Physicians, patients and legislators from both sides of the aisle recognize this. In 20 crisis states across the country, physicians are forced to make difficult decisions about patient care - from limiting high-risk procedures to retiring early. It is patients who truly suffer when they cannot find a doctor to deliver their baby or perform delicate trauma surgery.
The goals of improving patient safety and fixing the broken medical liability system are not mutually exclusive. America’s patients need and deserve both. The AMA is urging Congress to address both these important issues in the year ahead.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD American Medical Association Immediate Past-President
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Congressional Quarterly
Excerpt:
The controversy over whether drug and device manufacturers should be
protected appears to be causing a rift in a carefully constructed
coalition of groups invested in the bill. Drug companies offered lobbying
muscle that helped drive the bill through the House in the 108th. But the
AMA and other physicians' groups who have made liability limits their top
legislative priority are clearly distancing themselves from other health
providers covered by the measure. --------------
Stay well. Travel with care. DJP Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD AMA Immediate Past-President
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