Survey says: Liability reform works

CAL/AAEM News Service pottsbri@yahoo.com
Tue, 6 May 2003 20:46:23 -0700 (PDT)


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AHA NEWS NOW

The Daily Report for Hospital Executives

www.ahanews.com

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Monday, April 28, 2003

1) Survey says: Liability reform works

Legal reforms have slowed the growth of medical liability insurance premiums where they have been enacted, but federal reform is still needed. That was the message Monday as the AHA released a survey of 1,000 hospitals on the effects of the nation's liability crisis. In states identified by the American Medical Association as "crisis" states, medical liability expenses have doubled for nearly half of hospitals, costing as much as $11,435 per staffed bed compared with $4,228 in non-crisis states. At a news conference releasing the survey, Gerry Miller, president and CEO of Crozer-Keystone Health System in Springfield, PA, said "something is substantively wrong when a system like Crozer-Keystone spends more on insurance than on all the medications we buy for the patients we care for." And Jeff Curtis, president and CEO of H.S.C. Medical Center in Malvern, AR, said his hospital "had no choice but to discontinue delivering babies" because local doctors could not afford to pay th!
 eir premiums. Because the crisis is affecting care now, and because many state reforms could take years to accomplish, the AHA is calling for Congress to enact federal reform like that in The HEALTH Act, passed by the House and pending in the Senate (S. 607).

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Copyright 2003 by the American Hospital Association. All rights reserved. For republication rights, contact Craig Webb.

AHA News is a registered trademark of the American Hospital Association. The opinions expressed in AHA News Now are not necessarily those of the American Hospital Association.


Brian Potts 
Managing Editor, CAL/AAEM News Service 
MS-IV, UC-Irvine

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<P>===================================</P>
<P>AHA NEWS NOW</P>
<P>The Daily Report for Hospital Executives</P>
<P></FONT><A href="http://us.f413.mail.yahoo.com/ym/www.ahanews.com"><U><FONT color=#0000ff size=2>www.ahanews.com</U></FONT></A></P><FONT size=2>
<P>===================================</P>
<P>Monday, April 28, 2003</P>
<P>1) Survey says: Liability reform works</P>
<P>Legal reforms have slowed the growth of medical liability insurance premiums where they have been enacted, but federal reform is still needed. That was the message Monday as the AHA released a survey of 1,000 hospitals on the effects of the nation's liability crisis. In states identified by the American Medical Association as "crisis" states, medical liability expenses have doubled for nearly half of hospitals, costing as much as $11,435 per staffed bed compared with $4,228 in non-crisis states. At a news conference releasing the survey, Gerry Miller, president and CEO of Crozer-Keystone Health System in Springfield, PA, said "something is substantively wrong when a system like Crozer-Keystone spends more on insurance than on all the medications we buy for the patients we care for." And Jeff Curtis, president and CEO of H.S.C. Medical Center in Malvern, AR, said his hospital "had no choice but to discontinue delivering babies" because local doctors could not afford to pay!
  their premiums. Because the crisis is affecting care now, and because many state reforms could take years to accomplish, the AHA is calling for Congress to enact federal reform like that in The HEALTH Act, passed by the House and pending in the Senate (S. 607).</P>
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<P>==================================</P>
<P>Copyright 2003 by the American Hospital Association. All rights reserved. For republication rights, contact Craig Webb.</P>
<P>AHA News is a registered trademark of the American Hospital Association. The opinions expressed in AHA News Now are not necessarily those of the American Hospital Association.</P></FONT></DIV><BR><BR><STRONG>Brian Potts <BR>Managing Editor, CAL/AAEM News Service</STRONG> <BR>MS-IV, UC-Irvine<p><hr SIZE=1>
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