Side Note: It’s tough being a physician in New York state. New York has some of the highest med mal policy rates in the country. If you’d like to view a history of New York med mal rates over the past 10 years, we have them. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like any sort of med […]

Side Note: Oregon physicians once knew what is was like to practice medicine with caps on med mal lawsuits –and then they didn’t. But, maybe they will again? Gov. John Kitzhaber is in the midst of a broad health care overhaul for the state of Oregon. And, currently his “transformation team” is working to convert […]

Side Note: New York physicians pay some of the highest medical liability insurance rates in the country and something has to give. Will New York be the next state to join the coveted group of 35 states that currently have some sort of med mal insurance award caps? Could it be? If Governor Cuomo has […]

Side Note: In an effort to reform med mal in this country, President Obama’s budget includes $250 million in Justice Department grants to assist states in rewriting their med mal laws. Because med mal case outcomes can vary wildly from state-to-state, trying to establish some sort of standards and predictability across state lines is long […]

Side Note: The state of Massachusetts is embarking on new health care reform. Governor Patrick recently introduced a bill that, if signed into law, would do a lot for med mal reform in the state. Already known for being progressive on health care issues, because of the state’s almost universal health care coverage, it comes […]

Side Note: Last week, HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius faced a barrage of questions from Senate Republicans regarding medical malpractice reform during a Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing. The Republicans inquired about the lack of med mal reforms in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Disappointed by the fact that the ACA only addresses […]

Side Note: To our disappointment, the bipartisan House bill, Help Efficient, Accessible, Low-Cost, Timely Healthcare (HEALTH) Act, which would provide significant, sweeping med mal reform, is not likely to be passed in the Senate. If you follow med mal reform, you know that this is nothing new. The bill, which has been introduced and passed […]

Side note: Republican congressmen from Louisiana are eager for the new session of Congress to begin. The #1 item on their agenda…. the repeal of Obama’s historic health care overhaul. But there is one problem, they are uncertain of what they will propose in its place. Experts believe that the vote against health care reform […]

Side note: Since its recent introduction, medical malpractice insurance companies have been promoting electronic medical records, or EMRs, as a “miracle innovation” that would help to lower medical malpractice rates. As of November, 2010, when the Conning Research and Consulting Company released their findings, the promised savings from EMRs have not materialized. The study also […]