A recent study reported on in the New York Times tracked errors, accidents and other harmful events related to Medicare patients during hospitalization. The Department of Health and Human Services study found that only one in every seven adverse events is reported. Worse yet, even after hospitals investigate known errors, little is usually done to […]

Can your small, handy smartphone cause you to need your doctor liability ins? A recent article in AMedNews.com is warning physicians that smartphones can cause distractions significant enough to endanger patient safety. What’s the big deal? Physicians are always being interrupted –by nurses, phone calls, pages, returning lab results, you name it. Many estimate that […]

In a recent post, we discussed the growing problem of unsecured smartphone and mobile device use by physicians. Let’s dig deeper into this issue and figure out what you, specifically, can do to protect yourself and your practice. Top Five Things Physicians Can Do to Protect Against a Data Breach on Their Mobile Device: 1. […]

Several states this year explored the possibility of placing damage caps on med mal damages, including Florida, Oregon and Virginia. A recent article in Claims Journal asked, “Can Damage Caps Limit Medical Malpractice Exposure?” The article reviews several sources of information that point to such a limit when damage caps are in place. The article […]

We know that med mal can vary greatly from state to state. But how do other countries around the world handle med mal? (We mean, other Western countries…) And, can we learn anything from these other countries? The Economist recently had a nice article reviewing med mal practices around the world. The article primarily focused […]

A recent study by the Deloitte Center for Health Solutions found that physicians think health reform will do little to reduce costs. The survey was sent to 16,500 physicians from the AMA’s Master File asking them to take the 30-minute online survey and provided an incentive. Three percent (500 physicians) completed the survey. The survey […]

Last week, a Florida state senator and representative proposed legislation intended to replace the current, broken medical malpractice system in the state with an administrative structure modeled after the workers compensation system. Sen. Alan Hays and Rep. Jimmy Patronis say that the current medical liability process is adversarial, expensive and inefficient, and the legislation they […]

1. Professional liability coverage is one of the biggest expenses a physician faces each year. It is important to get the best best price you can –doing so can save you thousands of dollars a year. 2. Not all liability insurance agencies are created equal. Agencies can vary greatly in a lot of ways. Some […]

Diametrically opposed factions have been fighting to frame the debate over the success of the medical liability tort reforms implemented by the Texas Legislature and enshrined in the state constitution by voter approval in 2003. On one side of the argument are those who promote non-economic damage caps as the best way to limit the […]