side note: An innovative approach to lowering costs involves using computers to challenge scan orders that aren’t likely to help diagnose patients. Usually, these orders are entered by support staff, but the computer system at Massachusetts General Hospital requires a physician justification if the computer analysis shows that the scan is unlikely to help diagnose […]

side note: An ongoing fight in New Hampshire is threatening a state-created medical malpractice insurance fund. Set up in 1975 as a Joint Underwriting Association (JUA), the fund is designed to provide affordable physician liability insurance to doctors in high-risk specialties. Currently, the state government is wrangling with policyholders over the $110 million surplus in […]

Side Note: In this article from the Wall Street Journal, Scott Gottlieb, a practicing physician, anticipates changes that will need to be made by physicians and insurance companies as a result of President Obama’s health plan. In Gottlieb’s view, the Obama plan puts undue economic burden on doctors, who already must deal with increasing medical […]

Side note: Great advice on what to do about your medical malpractice insurance policy if you leave a practice. Unfortunately, many physicians incur unnecessary costs because they aren’t familiar with their practice’s policies on med mal insurance, including tail coverage. Make sure that you are fully covered and that your medical liability insurance does not […]

We received a lot of great feedback on our first tip for the best ways to lower your medical liability insurance costs. We had so many emails asking me questions, so instead of answering them all one by one, I thought I’d build out my first tip for doctors on how they can lower their […]

As we slowly wind down the week, I thought I’d spend a few minutes going over a tip that doctors and other health care professionals can use to help lower their medical liability insurance rates. This will be the first in our series of how to make sure you pay the absolute lowest price for […]

Side note: Two articles today about the issue of translation in medicine. As the U.S. population becomes more and more diverse, this is an increasing problem for doctors, practices, hospitals and pharmacies to address. The first article, from The Philadelphia Inquirer, addresses working with non-English speaking patients at your practice. As the writer explains, it […]

side note: transparency and risk management have long been suggested as a means of lowering medical accidents. The Cleveland Clinic is correct. Accountability and a sharing of mistakes would go far in preventing future mistakes. When fire breaks out and burns a patient during surgery in Pennsylvania, the hospital is required by law to report […]

Side note: A nice comparison of the American medical liability system with those of other countries. Though a wholesale adoption of one of these methods might not suit American needs, there is much of value in looking at the ways other countries deal with medical malpractice issues. Most of these systems treat medical malpractice lawsuits […]