Medical Malpractice News and Research

RSS

GOP Rep. Ryan potential 'foil' for Obama; Candidates consider reform's role in races

The New York Times: Rep. Paul Ryan, "as you may have heard, is the Republican star of the moment. A 40-year-old from southeastern Wisconsin serving his sixth term in the House, Mr. Ryan has been getting a lot of attention for his 'Roadmap for America's Future,' an unusually austere proposal to vanquish the federal debt by, among other things, partly dismantling Social Security and Medicare as they currently exist."

13 Aug 2010

VA Pittsburgh selects SmartSponge System to prevent retained surgical sponge incidents

ClearCount Medical Solutions and Medline Industries, Inc. today announced that its newest customer, the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare system will help prevent retained surgical sponge incidents with the use of the SmartSponge System®. The SmartSponge System is part of ClearCount's radio-frequency identification -based platform that uniquely identifies each sponge so that they can be easily counted and detected.

11 Aug 2010

AMA says most doctors at some point face malpractice lawsuits

MedPage Today/ABC News: According to a new survey by the American Medical Association, more than 60 percent of doctors older than 55 have been sued for medical malpractice. "Although most of those claims are dropped or dismissed, the new survey from the AMA shows that most physicians will be sued for malpractice at some point in their careers.

7 Aug 2010

Radiologists better at evaluating legal cases: Study

A study by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers found that 31 radiologists who reviewed the CT scans used in a medical malpractice lawsuit did not agree with the conclusions reached by four paid medical expert witnesses in the case.

26 Jul 2010

NYC hospitals agree to pilot program to cut medical-malpractice costs

To cut medical-malpractice costs, five New York City hospitals have agreed to a pilot program to divulge medical mistakes early, offer settlements quickly and use special state 'health courts,' where judges will help negotiate agreements before cases go to trial. The program, funded for three years with $3 million from the federal government, aims to cut the $1.4 billion spent annually in New York State on medical-malpractice premiums, hospital and state officials say.

23 Jul 2010

First Edition: July 23, 2010

Today's news coverage includes more details about the Obama administration's new rule on appealing rejections of health insurance claims and a new law to reign in improper government payments.

23 Jul 2010

Penn. official urges Bill to prohibit 'health profiling' and limit rate hikes; Nev., Ariz. wrestle with rising costs for public employees' benefits; McCollum releases health plan

"Pennsylvania's insurance commissioner is urging state legislators to pass a bill that would prohibit 'health profiling' and limit rate increases in advance of the 2014 enactment of the main provisions of the federal health-care reform law. Testifying before the House Insurance Committee, ... Joel Ario said he arrived at those recommendations following the department's investigation on the rating practices and premium increases of the top nine health insurance companies operating in Pennsylvania" (Toland, 7/21).

22 Jul 2010

Health reform law faces political, implementation challenges

Politico: States with "the most progressive health policies" are having a hard time implementing their part of a $5 billion series of high-risk insurance pools because their states offer a more generous guarantee of coverage. "Five states — Vermont, Maine, New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts — have 'guaranteed issue' of insurance: individual subscribers cannot be turned away because of a health condition.

21 Jul 2010

Abortion opponents say that elective abortions may be covered in high risk pools

Abortion opponents worry that vague language used in the new health care reform bill could lead to the coverage of elective abortions in new high risk insurance pools and say that may already be starting in New Mexico and Pennsylvania.

16 Jul 2010

States struggle with physician shortages, health care workforce issues

Worcester (Mass.) Telegram & Gazette, reports on a national shortage of pediatric subspecialists. "While Massachusetts has more pediatric sub-specialists per capita than many other states, the doctors are in short supply, even at big institutions like UMass. … Pediatric sub-specialists go through several years of training: four years of medical school, three years of training in pediatrics, then another three years of training in a specialty," yet their salaries are not much higher than regular pediatricians.

28 Jun 2010

Malpractice reformers get grants, but fear of lawsuits remains ER scourge

A New York judge's unusual technique — listening to the families of injured people, knowing something about medicine — for dealing with difficult medical malpractice cases will be among 20 explored with $3 million grants as part of the health overhaul, The Associated Press reports. The judge, Douglas McKeon, said, "I don't discuss settlement offers with families right away. … I just say, 'Tell me a little bit about your loved one.'"

21 Jun 2010

First Edition: June 21, 2010

Today's news includes an exploration of the impact of Medicare payment rates on physicians, an analysis of the fate of the COBRA subsidy and how an innovation may offer a medical malpractice fix.

21 Jun 2010

TMLTExposed.org files suit against Texas Medical Liability Trust

On June 18, 2010, the Registrant of the website www.TMLTExposed.org filed suit against Texas Medical Liability Trust in the 68th Judicial District Court of Dallas County, Texas requesting a declaratory judgment that the contents of the website are protected speech under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 8 of the Texas Constitution.

19 Jun 2010

UIC receives $3M grant to evaluate comprehensive process for responding to patient harm events

The University of Illinois at Chicago's Institute for Patient Safety Excellence has received a $3 million grant to evaluate its comprehensive process for responding to patient harm events at nine other Chicago area hospitals.

16 Jun 2010

ACRO unveils survey findings on decline in physician participation in clinical research

Today, the Association of Clinical Research Organizations (ACRO) unveiled findings from a groundbreaking survey exploring the decline in physician participation in clinical research across the United States and Western European markets at the 46th Drug Information Association (DIA) annual meeting. Over the past decade, the number of physicians participating in clinical research has continued to decrease in the U.S. and countries in Western Europe while participation increased at double digit rates in Asia, Latin America and Central/Eastern Europe.

15 Jun 2010

Today's Opinions: Medicare advantage to shrink; Insurers anti-trust protection; Health law regulations; The need for maternity leave

In the long run, there's no getting around the fact that Advantage plans will shrink in generosity and availability (Austin Frakt, 6/14).

14 Jun 2010

White House urged to promote health care innovation; Feds prepare $25 million in malpractice grants

A medical device trade group and former lawmaker separately called on the White House to do more to promote life-saving medical innovation this week. "In separate events Wednesday and Thursday, former House Majority Leader Dick Gephardt (D-Mo.) and Stephen Ubl, the head of the medical device trade group AdvaMed, called on the Obama administration to task a federal office with promoting U.S. innovation."

11 Jun 2010

Senate continues consideration of 'tax extenders,' Democrats push for COBRA subsidy

CongressDaily: The Senate is continuing work on a $140 billion package of tax breaks that includes some unemployment benefits and a temporary fix of the payments to Medicare physicians. "Final passage is not expected until next week on what is likely to be a partisan vote. But there are areas of agreement across the aisle.

11 Jun 2010

First Edition: June 11, 2010

The government is set to begin handing out $25 million in grants Friday aimed at reducing medical malpractice lawsuits, part of a compromise offered by President Barack Obama last year in response to calls for an overhaul of the malpractice system (The Wall Street Journal).

11 Jun 2010

Physhield receives state of Maryland approval to underwrite medical malpractice insurance

Physicians Healthcare Management Group, Inc. announced today that its exclusive affiliate, Physhield Insurance Exchange, a Risk Retention Group, has received approval from the state of Maryland Insurance Administration to underwrite medical malpractice insurance in the state.

11 Jun 2010

Medical Malpractice News and Research

GOP Rep. Ryan potential 'foil' for Obama; Candidates consider reform's role in races

VA Pittsburgh selects SmartSponge System to prevent retained surgical sponge incidents

AMA says most doctors at some point face malpractice lawsuits

Radiologists better at evaluating legal cases: Study

NYC hospitals agree to pilot program to cut medical-malpractice costs

First Edition: July 23, 2010

Penn. official urges Bill to prohibit 'health profiling' and limit rate hikes; Nev., Ariz. wrestle with rising costs for public employees' benefits; McCollum releases health plan

Health reform law faces political, implementation challenges

Abortion opponents say that elective abortions may be covered in high risk pools

States struggle with physician shortages, health care workforce issues

Malpractice reformers get grants, but fear of lawsuits remains ER scourge

First Edition: June 21, 2010

TMLTExposed.org files suit against Texas Medical Liability Trust

UIC receives $3M grant to evaluate comprehensive process for responding to patient harm events

ACRO unveils survey findings on decline in physician participation in clinical research

Today's Opinions: Medicare advantage to shrink; Insurers anti-trust protection; Health law regulations; The need for maternity leave

White House urged to promote health care innovation; Feds prepare $25 million in malpractice grants

Senate continues consideration of 'tax extenders,' Democrats push for COBRA subsidy

First Edition: June 11, 2010

Physhield receives state of Maryland approval to underwrite medical malpractice insurance

How ELRIG Is Helping Mid-Career Scientists Navigate Leadership, Career Change and Redundancy

The role of UV-Vis in biopharma QC

Applications Engineer

Latest News