Tort Reform does not necessarily equal caps

From the AMA.

Tort reform may still be coming, per President Obama's Address last week. While caps are still the AMA's favorite remedy, in this recent letter they outline some other considerations...

Alternative Reforms

While the AMA continues to advocate for proven reforms like MICRA, we are also committed to finding innovative solutions to the broken medical liability system such as offering of grants tostates to pursue alternatives to current tort litigation. These alternatives include:

• Health Courts. Health courts would provide a forum where medical liability actions could be heard by judges specially trained in medical liability matters and who hear only medical liability cases. The AMA developed and adopted health court principles in 2007 to assist state and local governments, insurers, hospitals and other entities interested in exploring this option for medical liability reform.
• Early Disclosure and Compensation Programs. Under an early disclosure and compensation model, providers would be required to notify a patient of an adverse event within a limited period of time. Notification does not constitute an admission of
liability. Providers offering to compensate for injuries in good faith would be provided immunity from liability. Payments for non-economic damages would be based on a defined payment schedule developed by the state in consultation with relevant experts and with the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS).
• Administrative Determination of Compensation Model. A state’s administrative entity would be charged with setting a compensation schedule for injuries, resolving claims for injuries, and establishing compensation based on the patient’s net economic loss, subject to periodic payment and offset by collateral payments from sources such as insurance.
• Expert Witness Qualifications. Several states have amended the statutory qualifications for those who may serve as medical expert witnesses at trial. Some states (e.g., Georgia, Texas, and Illinois) have created additional standards that medical expert witnesses must meet in order to ensure the testimony juries receive is presented by an individual with particularized expertise in the matter in question.

The AMA is committed to finding a solution to the challenges of the broken medical liability system, including federal reforms based on proven state solutions like California and Texas as well as alternative liability reforms like health courts. The AMA also supports protecting patients’ access to care by working in concert with
state medical associations to enact and defend strong medical liability reform laws.

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