The first trend report analyzes indemnity and expense payments, claim disposition and policy limits based on a sample of medical liability claims that closed between 2001 and 2010. The report’s key findings include the following:
• The average expense of defending a physician against a medical liability claim in 2010 was $47,158, representing a 62.7 percent increase since 2001.
• In 2010, 63.7 percent of all closed claims against physicians were dropped, withdrawn or dismissed. Each of these claims costs an average of $26,851 to defend.
• The average medical liability indemnity payment to a claimant in 2010 was $331,947, indicating an 11.5 percent increase since 2001.
• The share of medical liability insurance policies carried by physicians with limits exceeding $1 million have increased from 28 percent to 41 percent since 2001.
The second trend report analyzes medical liability insurance premiums from 2004-2011. Highlights in the report include the following points:
• Physicians continue to face high costs of insuring themselves against medical liability claims.
• In some areas of New York, premiums for obstetricians/gynecologists reached $206,913 in 2011, showing a 41 percent increase since 2004. Meanwhile, premiums for general surgeons reached $128,542, indicating a 64 percent increase since 2004.
• About 5 percent of premiums increased by 10 percent or more. This is the largest proportion of upward premium changes since 2007, when 8 percent of premiums increased by 10 percent or more.
“Information in the new studies paints a bleak picture of the cost burden caused by excess litigation against physicians and bolsters the case for national and state-level medical liability reforms,” AMA President Peter W. Carmel, MD, said in the report.
Related Articles on Medical Liability:
Stanford’s Transparency-Focused Program Yielded $32M Yearly Savings in Liability Premiums
White Paper: EHRs May Present New Medical Liability Issues
Report Suggests Malpractice Caps May Not Reduce Healthcare Costs
