January 9, 2023 by matray

Below are headlines and article synopses from the January 2023 issue of Medical Liability Monitor. To read the articles in entirety, please subscribe today.

Medical Professional Liability Premium Growth Slowed in 2022
The medical professional liability insurance industry experienced double-digit premium growth in 2021, driven by firmer pricing and a return to pre-pandemic levels of healthcare utilization, but those gains waned last year, according to a new report published by the Medical Professional Liability (MPL) Association. The industry’s premium growth finished strong in 2021 at 11%. It had averaged only 7% during the previous five years due to a combination of factors that included “a soft pricing environment that lasted for the better part of a decade, shrinkage in the number of independent physicians that purchase MPL insurance and a movement towards alternative insurance mechanisms such as captives.” The premium growth was driven by firmer prices in all sectors of the MPL market, the gradual return to pre-pandemic levels of healthcare utilization and a consumer price index that was running close to 7% — the highest rate of inflation since the early 1980s — while large-dollar “nuclear” verdicts continued to make headlines …

New Jersey Senator Introduces Medical Liability Noneconomic Damage Cap Legislation
State Sen. Nicholas Sacco last month introduced the New Jersey Medical Malpractice Fees & Civil Damage Act, a bill seeking to limit both noneconomic damages and attorney contingency fees in medical liability lawsuits. The proposed bill, S3343, would establish a $250,000 limit for recoverable noneconomic damages in medical liability personal injury actions, regardless of the number of healthcare providers involved. Recoverable noneconomic damages for medical liability actions resulting in a wrongful death, regardless of the number of healthcare providers involved, would be limited to $500,000. Similarly, civil liability for noneconomic losses in a personal injury claim against one or more healthcare facilities, collectively, would be capped at $250,000, while recoverable noneconomic damages for wrongful death claims would be limited to $500,000, regardless of the number of healthcare facilities involved …

Grieving Families Act Sent to New York Governor
A bill that would expand the amount of recoverable damages in wrongful death actions was delivered to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Dec. 28, 2022. The governor has 30 days to sign, amend or veto the measure. The Grieving Families Act passed both houses of the state legislature in June 2022. The bill would extend New York’s statute of limitations for wrongful death lawsuits from two years to three and a half, permit surviving family members to collect noneconomic damages for the loss of affection and let nontraditional family members seek compensation. Under the state’s current law, compensable damages in wrongful death actions are limited to economic loss only …

Emergency Dept. Misdiagnosis Accounts for 2.6 Million Patient Harms
A new report from the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality discovered that about 5.7% of patients seen in the emergency department (ED) are misdiagnosed. Some of these patients suffer an adverse event due to the incorrect diagnosis (~2%), and some of these adverse events are serious (~0.3%). This translates to about 1 in 18 ED patients being misdiagnosed, 1 in 50 suffering an adverse event and 1 in 350 suffering permanent disability or death. These rates are comparable to those seen in primary care and hospital inpatient care ...

ATRF Publishes Annual ‘Judicial Hellholes’ Report, Medical Professional Liability Again Plays Determining Role
The American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF) issued its 2022/2023 Judicial Hellholes report last month. The annual release documents abuses of the civil justice system in jurisdictions the pro-tort reform group says are among the most unfair and out of balance in the nation. The ATRF is a branch of the American Tort Reform Association (ATRA), an umbrella organization exclusively dedicated to reforming the nation’s court system via a network of state-based liability-reform coalitions. As every year, medical professional liability issues played a significant role in which regions received mention in the Judicial Hellholes report. Following is a summation of the medical liability portions of the annual report ...

Association Forms to Help Physicians Maintain Independent Practice
Recognizing the adverse impact private equity’s accelerating investment in physician practices has had on the cost and quality of patient care, a group of nearly 400 anesthesiologists from three states united last year to establish the nonprofit Association for Independent Medicine (AIM). The partnership intends to support physician-owned groups choosing to maintain their independent practice by providing them with resources, education and political advocacy tools ...

Clinicians Reluctant to Provide Telehealth Care to Older Adults
A national survey of doctors, nurses and other healthcare providers reveals that nearly 60% believe it’s “dangerous” to provide telehealth to older adults due to the age group’s medical complexities, while another 60% say telehealth is an unrealistic option for seniors with physical or cognitive challenges ...

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