| Scranton Times Tribune | |
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| Healing
Trend, With an Exception |
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| The
prognosis looks better for the medical malpractice liability
controversy, and for access to quality health care generally in the
region and the state, with one notable exception. And new data in
several different areas points to the means to deal with that exception
in furtherance of an overall cure. It has been at least five years since health-care consumers in the region have received so heavy a dose of positive news relative to health care. The federal government finally has altered a reimbursement formula for Medicare, a change that will provide infusions of up to $3 million each for cash-starved local hospitals. Executives for several hospitals said the money will enable them to expand care, and upgrade facilities and equipment. Data provided by the Pennsylvania Medical Society, first reported in The Morning Call of Allentown, shows that the number of physicians in Pennsylvania increased by 800 from 2002 to 2003, disproving the assertion that doctors had fled the state en masse due to high liability insurance rates. Additional data on the number of doctors in the state was derived from the number of physicians who had applied for more than $400 million in public funding to help them pay for the catastrophic loss portion of their malpractice insurance. Combined, the Medical Society and state figures paint a clear picture that the liability controversy has not driven large numbers of doctors from Pennsylvania. The number of specialists in high-risk areas, who were particularly hard hit by insurance increases, declined only slightly over the same period, by 16. There was a slight increase in the numbers of neurosurgeons and ob-gyns, and decreases in the numbers of orthopedic surgeons and general surgeons. The state Supreme Court has recorded significant decreases in the number of new medical malpractice cases filed since 2002, an indication that a series of legislative and judicial reforms is having a positive impact. Insurers and underwriters have reported two consecutive years of declining payouts in medical malpractice cases in Pennsylvania -- from $424 million in 2001 to $402.8 million in 2002, to $394.5 million in 2003. Despite fewer cases being filed and, remarkably, despite the declining payouts, insurers have continued to significantly increase rates for doctors, even as more insurers apply to enter the market. That should point the Legislature toward insurance reform. But some legislators are clinging to the notion that capping non-economic damage awards is the only solution to reducing insurance rates, even though insurers have increased rates amid an improving environment regarding both payouts and new litigation. Lawmakers should turn next to insurance reform, and the Rendell administration should step up insurance regulation under the Insurance Department's existing authority, in order to use the momentum from the other positive developments as the means to force fairer liability rates for doctors and health-care institutions. |