April 9, 2024 by matray

Below are some headlines and article synopses from the April 2024 issue of Medical Liability Monitor. To read the articles in their entirety, please subscribe today.

Does AI Help or Hurt Radiologists’ Performance? It Depends on the Doctor
One of the most touted promises of medical artificial intelligence (AI) tools is their ability to augment human clinicians’ performance by helping them interpret images, such as X-rays and CT scans, with greater precision to make more accurate diagnoses. But the benefits of using AI tools for image interpretation appear to vary from clinician to clinician, according to new research led by investigators at Harvard Medical School, working with colleagues at Stanford University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management. The study’s findings suggest that individual clinician differences shape the interaction between human and machine in critical ways that researchers do not yet fully understand …

Investment Performance Helps Sustain Underwriting Stalemate for the MPL Industry: 2023 Year-End Financial Results for Medical Professional Liability Specialty Writers
After-tax net income for our composite of MPL insurers increased from slightly more than $400 million in 2022 to approximately $720 million in 2023, an increase of almost 75%. While underwriting results remained relatively flat in 2023, the composite’s investment income was buoyed by interest rate hikes implemented by the Federal Reserve, which increased to nearly $1 billion and was the highest level of investment income since 2010. While inflation remains near the top of everyone’s mind, for our composite, inflation’s impact to date has resulted in a larger increase in investment gains than underwriting expenses …

Florida Bills to End ‘Free Kill’ Law, Institute Noneconomic Damage Cap Die in Committees
Florida lawmakers filed five bills during the 2024 legislative session that would have ended a law denying recoverable damages for certain wrongful death medical liability claims (see MLM, January 2024). None of the bills passed before the session ended on March 8. Only Senate Bill (SB) 248 advanced out of its originating committee. The bill would have eliminated the law limiting noneconomic damages in wrongful death medical liability lawsuits to spouses and minor children and imposed a $500,000 total noneconomic damage cap on claims against healthcare providers, regardless of the number of providers who are liable; a $750,000 noneconomic damage cap for hospitals and other “non-practitioners”; and a $150,000 noneconomic damage cap for providers in emergency cases …

AM Best P/C Downgrades Outpace Upgrades in 2023: MPL Insurers Receive 7 Upgrades, No Downgrades
AM best downgraded more issuer credit ratings for the property/casualty (P/C) insurance industry than it upgraded in 2023, according to a new special report from the ratings agency, but medical professional liability (MPL) insurers bucked the trend with seven rating upgrades and no downgrades …

Feds Launch Probe Into Private Equity’s Increasing Role in Healthcare
The Justice Department, Federal Trade Commission and Department of Health & Human Services recently launched a joint, cross-government public inquiry into private-equity’s increasing control over the U.S. healthcare delivery system …

No More ‘Bare’ Brazilian Butt Lift Surgeries in Florida
Florida surgeons who perform gluteal fat grafting procedures, commonly referred to as Brazilian butt lift surgery, will be required to either secure medical professional liability insurance coverage or maintain an irrevocable letter of credit should Gov. Ron DeSantis sign the recently passed House Bill (HB) 1561. No other physician or surgical specialty is required by Florida law to have indemnity coverage. About 20% of the state’s plastic surgeons practice without malpractice insurance, an action referred to as “practicing bare” by insurance professionals …

Americans Unaware of Litigation Funding’s Impact on Legal System
Results from a new survey conducted by the American Property Casualty Insurance Association (APCIA) and Munich Reinsurance America indicate the American public at large is not aware of the negative impact of plaintiff lawyers’ tactics, e.g., predatory advertising and the use of third-party litigation funding, on their day-to-day household costs. And upon learning of these externalities, an overwhelming majority of survey respondents want state and federal laws changed to address these abuses of the legal system …

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