“The proof is in the pudding” is proving to be more than just a convenient expression when it comes to heathcare reform. When we entered the current administration’s tenure, many were hopeful that the changes to come would be good, productive improvements. So far, though, it’s not looking good for the Gipper. The new “reform” package continues to stumble about blindly, amidst considerably challenges that suggest the entire thing may be scrapped as unConstitutional. Even status quo aspects like paying physicians a reduced fee for their services to Medicare and Medicaid patients are no longer maintained. The promise to those people who have paid into the program is not being kept. As of a couple months ago, the recurring extensions of funding stopped, leaving physicians high and dry and lacking 21% of what was already a substandard sum. This is causing Access To Care problems, and is nearly certain to get worse. When the American people voted in this President and accompanying Congress, it’s certain that they did so expecting functional solutions. So far, though, the Pudding is quite thin, at least a bit sour, and doesn’t begin to satisfy the needs of the people it was supposed to assist.
Jeffrey Segal, MD, JD
AMA Report: Lawsuits Are Frequent; Really Frequent
The American Medical Association released a report surveying over 5,000 doctors between 2007 and 2008. The result: An average of 95 claims were filed for every 100 physicians. That’s an average of almost one per physicians. Just under 50 percent were sued at some point in their career. 20% were sued two or more times.
And the doctor’s specialty determined the career suit rate:
Tort Reform and the Rain Forest; Lawyers’ Advice Needed
A great post from our friend MD Whistleblower Tort Reform and the Rain Forest; Lawyers’ Advice Needed Hate to see the rebuttal witnesses!!
BREAKING NEWS: 6-Month Medicaid Funding Extension in Senate
The U.S. Senate passed a six-month extension of Medicaid funding by a vote of 61-38. That’s the good news. But the picture is anything but rosy, and there are no clear skies ahead. This result is only a progression towards funding approval – and that was only possible because Republicans Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe joined with all the Democrats to provide the minimum 60 votes necessary. Did that pass the bill in Senate? Nope. That’s just what it takes to move it to the Debate stage.
What exactly is being debated? Well, first off, the bill isn’t all about Medicaid. Education and other aspects are also bundled in. The complexity of the legislation seems to be part of the hold-up. Senate’s current form of proposed legislation would taper off the Federal involvement in supporting the states, which currently includes a 6.2% bonus to the state governments. This bill proposes cutting that to 3.2% during the first quarter of 2011, and then drop it by 1.2% more in June of 2011* (see Update at the end of this piece).
The Bully Principle; Medical Justice Kicks Predatory Trial Lawyers to the Curb
Predatory creatures are consistent, regardless of species. The mighty shark expects it prey to be paralyzed with fear. Punch it in the snout and it takes a big step backwards, backs away and moves on to easier targets. The simple fact is that both sharks and plaintiff’s malpractice lawyers are bullies. They pick on capable, well-intending doctors, encouraging patients to file lawsuit against someone that the patient would otherwise be thanking. Patients know that their doctors didn’t cause them to be sick or injured, and most believe their doctors are doing their best to make them well, ease their suffering. But if you give a trial lawyer a few minutes with them, the lawyer will turn the story around until it seems like the doctor was an insensitive, uncaring creep who was only there for the money. (Talk about projecting! They’re the ones who don’t care what damage they do to people, so long as they’re making a buck!)
Think Online Rep Doesn’t Matter? Think Again!
Most of us who live and work in the Real World barely have time to read email, let alone think of the Internet as having any serious impact on us. After all, that’s all just electronic, virtual reality. We operate in the tangible, corporeal world, right? Don’t be too sure about that. Many aspects of a physician’s career are intangible. The education, for example, is just represented by that piece of paper on the wall. The education itself is an intangible. One’s reputation is another essential, intangible asset. But with the Internet, your reputation (far more so than an education) has the potential to be in a constant state of flux. Even if you have 20 people saying how wonderful you are for every one person who claims you’re a quack, it’s still that one bad comment that is going to get the attention and ruin your reputation. It really should be expected, because the content patient doesn’t make it their life’s work to discredit you with their allegations. Remember, an allegation is all it takes. People think “Where there’s smoke, there must be some sort of fire,” so they move on a physician who may be nowhere near as highly experienced as you, but who also hasn’t had the chance to rack up any bad feedback yet. So you get the bad rep, and the new guy gets the patient.
Fighting Back Against the Changes
This past year has seen a tremendous number of changes in the health care industry. The entire health care reform debate raged and ranted, whined and squeaked and finally got signed. There have been strings of action and inaction, push and pull, Congress extending physicians’ payments for a month at a time, (when they could as easily have applied a six-month bandage) as the administrative offices played catch-up with the paperwork. But last month, that all stopped. The administrative agency declared that they would NOT pay on the presumption that Congress would fund it retroactively… and since then, Congress has done nothing to resolve the problem. That’s right. Doctors have simply been working for 21% less, trusting our government to make it right eventually. But this time, it isn’t happening.
HealthCare Reform Coming Home To Roost
It didn’t take long. The health insurance companies didn’t wait before looking for ways to cut corners at the patient and doctors’ expense. Remember the campaign promises that the government wouldn’t tell you what physician you can see… and that’s true. The government won’t be doing it. Your insurance company will.
The first round? Lower premiums are being offered to companies that will accept specific physicians — and only those doctors — for their employees’ care. Been with your family doctor for a decade or more, know and trust him? Too bad. Unless he’s on that little list, you’ll be dealing with your choice of those doctors the insurance company has approved. By what criteria? It doesn’t take much to figure out we’re talking about the least-common-denominator; Whichever physicians are willing to work for whatever peanuts the insurance company is willing to pay.
A World Without Frivolous Lawsuits
That’s the dream of many people these days, professionals, their patients and clients alike — a world without frivolous lawsuits. A world where trial lawyers don’t exaggerate or fabricate cases in order to harass good people out of their hard-earned money. A world where a dedicated professional who is doing the right thing to the best of his abilities and in accordance with standard professional practices is not a target for some lazy opportunist. What would such a world be like? Let’s have a look:
Your doctor would spend his time and energy with you, on you and your needs ENTIRELY, instead of covering his backside, dotting I’s and crossing T’s. What’s more, he’ll be better rested, have a more pleasant bedside manner, because he won’t be up half the night worrying about when the next ingrate is going to try to take his life’s work away from him on a jackpot lawsuit.
John Stossel, Tort Lawyers and Defensive Medicine
John Stossel recently wrote an excellent editorial entitled “Parasitic Tort Lawyers.” OK, anything with that title will get our attention. While we concede that the headline is a little over the top (although not much) the article is well thought out – and echoes what Medical Justice has said for years. Stossel begins,
Tort lawyers lie. They say their product liability suits are good for us. But their lawsuits rarely make our lives better. They make lawyers and a few of their clients better off — but for the majority of us, they make life much worse.”
Why is this so? Because people are, for the most part, rational beings. If I touch a hot stove and burn my hand, I learn not to touch a hot stove again. Painful lesson, but lesson learned. How does this make our lives worse? When a person gets burned, whatever the reason, that person will naturally avoid that stimulus in the future. If that person is a doctor, and that stimulus is a frivolous lawsuit, the future behavior will be to avoid that stimulus (the frivolous suit) by “protecting themselves” via defensive medicine. If the effects of that behavior only impacted the doctor, then no real harm done. However, that rational, protective behavior (read defensive medicine) impacts our entire healthcare system. So much so, that some studies estimate the impact between $200 and $400 billion dollars per year. That’s billion with a B.
