Regulations, Forms & Other Useful Documents
Addressing the Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis
Author(s): Robert Burns
Sponsoring organization: National Governors Association Center for Best Practices
Lists options available to states to address the medical malpractice problems of high rates and lack of carriers.
Date: 12 / 2002
Claims, Errors, and Compensation Payments in Medical Malpractice Litigation
Author(s): David M. Studdert, Michelle M. Mello, Atul A. Gawande, Tejal K. Gandhi, Allen Kachalia, Catherine Yoon, Ann Louise Puopolo, Troyen A. Brennan
Sponsoring organization: Harvard School of Public Health
Discusses a study where trained physicians reviewed a random sample of closed malpractice claims from liability insurers to determine whether a medical injury had occurred and, if so, whether it was due to medical error.
Date: 05 / 2006
Clinician's Handbook on the Federal Tort Claims Act
Sponsoring organization: Health Resources and Services Administration
Written for Health Center clinicians who are (or will be) receiving Federal Tort Claims Act malpractice protection. Intended to provide a fundamental understanding of the Federal Tort Claims Act.
Date: 2001
Determinants of the Cost of Medical Liability Insurance
Author(s): Daniel P. Kessler
Sponsoring organization: Physician Insurers Association of America
This paper investigates the determinants of malpractice premiums. It reports three key
findings. First, increases in tort awards, settlement payments, and defense costs explain
why premiums have risen. Second, reforms to states' tort laws, such as reasonable caps
on non-economic damages, substantially reduce the cost of claims, and in turn,
premiums. Third, anticompetitive behavior by insurers, health care costs, weak state
oversight, declines in investment income, and other features of capital markets are not
important determinants of premiums. The policy implications of this evidence are clear. Tort reforms are the best proven instrument for reducing malpractice premium growth and its adverse consequences.
Date: 04 / 2006
Health Center Program: Federal Tort Claims Act
Sponsoring organization: Bureau of Primary Health Care
Provides information regarding the medical malpractice liability protection through the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) to HRSA-supported health centers.
Date: 05 / 2008
Jury's Still Out: A Critical Look at Malpractice Reform
Author(s): William M. Sage, Margaret Thompson, Cynthia Gorman, Melissa King
Sponsoring organization: Center for American Progress
Describes medical malpractice and tort reform. Explains why they are important to health policy.
Date: 06 / 2008
Medical Malpractice Insurance
Author(s): Robert P. Hartwig, Claire Wilkinson
Discusses the rising cost of medical malpractice insurance which is affecting access to healthcare and adversely impacting the quality of that care, prompting urgent calls for medical liability reform.
Date: 06 / 2003
Medical Malpractice Insurance: Multiple Factors Have Contributed to Increased Premium Rates
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
Reports on a study done by the Government Accountability Office that describes the extent of the increases in medical malpractice insurance rates, the factors that contributed to those increases, and the changes in the medical malpractice insurance market that may contribute to the current increases in premium rates.
Date: 06 / 2003
Medical Malpractice Insurance: Stable Losses/Unstable Rates 2007
Sponsoring organization: Maine Child Support
An update to the study Stable Losses/Unstable Rates study in 2002 examining three decades of the trends in medical malpractice insurance.
Date: 03 / 2007
Medical Malpractice Law in the United States
Author(s): Peter P. Budetti, Teresa M. Waters
Sponsoring organization: Kaiser Family Foundation
Provides an overview of the issues surrounding medical malpractice law and how medical malpractice law works. Discusses the legal changes that states have made over the past 30 years in response to periodic concerns about rising medical malpractice costs, some newer proposals for changing medical malpractice law, and trend data looking at changes in the number of claims and average and total claims costs.
Date: 05 / 2005
Medical Malpractice: Implications of Rising Premiums on Access to Health Care
Sponsoring organization: Government Accountability Office
Examines the responses of the health care provider to rising malpractice insurance premiums and the affect of those responses on consumers' access to health care. Discusses the practice of defensive medicine due to the fear of litigation. Compares, between states with varying levels of tort reform law, the growth of medical malpractice insurance premiums and insurer payments for malpractice claims.
Date: 08 / 2003
Medical Malpractice: Impact of the Crisis and Effect of State Tort Reforms
Author(s): Claudia H. Williams, Michelle M. Mello
Sponsoring organization: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
A report that is part of a series addressing medical malpractice insurance topics. This issue focuses on how a volatile malpractice environment affects health care delivery, and the impact of state tort reforms on premiums, claims frequency, claims payouts and physician supply.
Date: 05 / 2006
Tort Excess 2005: The Necessity for Reform from a Policy, Legal and Risk Management Perspective
Author(s): David Dial, Robert Hartwig, John M. Hudgins, Harold Moskowitz, Cheryl P. Vollweiler, Christine West, Richard Woollams
Reports on the upward trend seen in U.S. liability costs over the past several years and how it is expected to continue in 2005. Identifies the problems associated with this trend and discusses current reforms and possible reforms to address the situation.
Date: 2005
Terms & Acronyms
Causation A legal standard that asks a judge or jury to decide whether a physician's actions or inaction created or contributed to a health problem. It is difficult to prove because it requires showing what would have happened if another path had been taken.
Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA) Provides compensation for people who suffer personal injury due to negligent or wrongful action by federal employees. Replaces need for malpractice coverage for federal health care providers, including federally qualified health centers.
Informed Consent An agreement obtained voluntarily from a patient for the performance of specific medical, surgical or research procedures after the material risks and benefits of these procedures and their alternatives have been fully explained in non-technical terms.
Joint Liability Liability shared by two or more parties, in which each responsible party is individually responsible for the entire obligation. A claimant may choose to collect the damages from all, some, or any one of the responsible parties.
Medical Malpractice Occurs when a physician fails to properly treat a medical condition and the negligent act or omission is the cause of a new or aggravated injury to the patient.
Medical Malpractice Insurance The insurance that covers doctors and other professionals in the medical field for liability claims arising from their treatment of patients.
Several Liability Liability where each responsible party must pay only for the portion of damages caused by that party's own fault.
Statute of Limitations A law that bars claims after a specified period of time. The time limit is based on when the claim accrued, which usually means when the injury occurred or when a potential claim was discovered. The purpose of statutes of limitation is to require that known claims be diligently pursued while evidence is reasonably available and fresh, and to provide the finality that after a certain time, a claim cannot be brought forward.
Tort Reform Laws that are usually intended to limit the number of claims or the size of payments or verdicts, in order to reduce malpractice and insurance costs. Tort reform laws may include caps or limits on damages, abolishing joint and several liability, shortening the statute of limitations, limiting contingent fees charged by plaintiffs' lawyers, providing for greater use of alternative dispute resolution (such as mediation) and other measures.
