New York Medical Malpractice

As medical malpractice premiums for doctors keep skyrocketing, New York doctors are traveling to Albany to talk to governor David Patterson about reform. Malpractice premiums are driving many doctors out of the state to practice in other areas where the premiums aren’t as high.

As overhead and other costs soar, doctors say they need flexibility to negotiate fees with managed health-care organizations. Physicians also want more room for discussion with HMOs on issues of patient treatment and testing.

Doctors also contend colleagues are leaving New York in droves because of sky-high medical malpractice insurance premiums. The typical neurosurgeon in the state pays $300,000 a year, said Dr. Perel. Obstetrician-gynecologists on Staten Island can pay upwards of $200,000 annually.

"It’s important for the Legislature to enact medical liability reform this year," said Assemblyman Lou Tobacco (R-South Shore), who, along with the borough’s elected officials in the Assembly and state Senate, met with the doctors. "We need to lower medical malpractice rates during these tough economic times to ensure that current doctors are able to afford practicing medicine here, while encouraging doctors who graduate from New York medical colleges to remain in the state."

Current negotiations for medical malpractice reform are delaying the release of the newest malpractice rates. The New York Sun highlights:

The state’s insurance superintendent, Eric Dinallo, is holding off on raising medical malpractice insurance rates pending negotiations on ways to reform the state’s malpractice system, the insurance department announced yesterday.

When rates for 2008-09 are determined, they will be retroactive to today.

Malpractice insurance rates are set each year by the insurance superintendent, and physician groups were bracing for a single-digit rate increase this year.

Hopefully, this move for reform by New York state will be able to keep medical malpractice rates under control.

Medical malpractice rates are a cost of doing business for doctors and look to be going up according to the New York Sun:

New York physicians are asking for a moratorium on a medical malpractice insurance rate hike that state insurance officials are expected to announce next week.

The rates, set each year by the state’s Insurance Department, are expected to go up by as much as 9% on July 1, physicians and insurance industry sources said. By law, the agency could also impose an additional 8% levy on doctors to supplement the reserves of the malpractice insurance carriers, which might otherwise be exhausted in the near future.

With economic pressures weighing on consumers and businesses across the board, the doctors may receive some empathy.

A new safety bill in New York increases accountability for those who suffer medical malpractice. NY Newsday documents:

Most doctors charged with misconduct by the state Health Department will have their names made public and all will have just one day to produce office records demanded by investigators under a wide-ranging patient safety bill agreement announced Monday by Gov. David A. Paterson.

The article points out that this rule was created due to the Finkelstein case in which records were not available for 3 years:

Finkelstein, a pain-management doctor who worked primarily from a Plainview office, had infected at least one patient with hepatitis C by reusing syringes in multidose vials. More than 10,000 patients were eventually notified of possible exposure to tainted syringes.

Finkelstein also had accumulated 10 malpractice settlements in a decade, which critics said should have triggered an investigation by the Office of Professional Medical Conduct, the health department agency that investigates doctors. The law will require continuous state review of malpractice records to see if troubling patterns emerge, prompting inquiry. Hannon said it would “restore confidence in the physician-patient relationship. … We can turn around to people who were critical of the system because of Finkelstein and say we have made substantial improvement.”

This new development is great. It seems to fill the existing legal loophole and increase patient safety.

The apparent decrease in sanctions against doctor error and indiscretion is certainly alarming. All Headline News reports:

New York, NY (AHN) - While complaints against physicians keep on rising in the Big Apple, New York state’s Office of Professional Medical Conduct has penalized fewer doctors in 2007, an 11-year record low.

An 18-page report by the New York Public Interest Research Group and the Center for Medical Consumers attributed the dip in disciplinary measures to the OPMC’s high rate of using a nondisciplinary monitoring system. The report’s authors branded the state’s physician disciplinary system as one of America’s most pro-doctor systems.

The article continues:

From 1996 to 2003, prejudicial actions in the form of license revocations, suspensions and practice restrictions went up from 314 to 395 in the state. But in the last five years it has gone down by 20 percent to 316 in 2007.

Its unfortunate that NYC has experienced lax enforcement of medical malpractice regulations. Thankfully, groups like the New York Public Interest Research Group are taking up the slack and raising public awareness about the issue.

ALBANY, NY — The Legislature Tuesday approved a bill that will shift millions of dollars from inpatient hospital care to outpatient services, save $828 million in health-care costs and create a loan-forgiveness program for physicians who agree to practice in parts of the state short of doctors.

“Today we took an important step forward in transforming our health-care system to lower costs, increase access and invest in primary and preventive care,”

Gov. David Paterson said

The changes mean $57 million will be taken out of inpatient care and put toward hospital clinics, emergency rooms and ambulatory care. The state will put $45 million more toward community clinics, physician services and additional reimbursements for providers that have evening and weekend hours, according to state budget officials. Medicaid, the health-insurance program for the poor, will pay for diabetes and asthma education, something it has not done in the past.

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Coming off of the heels of New York State raising medical malpractice premiums by 15%, there are rumors that they may now be surcharged up to $50,000 and have an additional increase in their premiums by 10-15%. Physicians are concerned that many doctors will have to close their doors and leave patients without any care if medical malpractice rates and surcharges continue to rise.

This news is still being considered just a rumor, but a recent meeting of more than 100 physicians at Memorial Hospital and St. Charles Hospital think that it may become reality.

There are suggestions from state officials that the surcharge and rate increase are only a possibility, and that physicians are reacting to rumor and speculation. But while the findings of the task force have been presented to Spitzer, they have not yet been released.

For now, only time will tell.

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