Obama Plan May Give Physicians leverage to press for the pro

 

Wednesday, May 13,2009, 9:51:44 AM   Click:

May 12 - WASHINGTON - The push to increase attacks health care costs by reducing unnecessary medical procedures could open the door to an issue that has made its way to Texas, but flopped in Congress: the medical tort reform.

For years, the American Medical Association has promoted legislation to cap non-economic damages in lawsuits for malpractice. This legislation passed the Republican-controlled House in 2005, but not in the Senate.

With the Obama administration requiring the cooperation of doctors, to reduce health care costs, doctors lobby May lever to secure the responsibility of protection. Doctors say they often have to repeat tests and unnecessary procedures because they fear prosecution for their decisions.

"If we can have the added responsibility to protect against in the courtroom is not something we feel should not be done, then we can get even more bending of the curve," said James J. Rohačka a Temple cardiologist who is president-elect of the AMA.

The AMA and other groups in the health industry has pledged Monday to work with President Barack Obama to reduce costs, which should grow to more than three times the rate of inflation over the next decade, according to government estimates. The coalition has set a target size of 1.5 per cent annual growth rate of health expenditure. This would save about $ 2 trillion over 10 years.

The coalition, which includes the main groups for doctors, hospitals and insurers, to target savings offered through the coordination of care between providers, streamlining formalities and other procedures, and adoption of technology to reduce costs and medical errors.





Some of the groups that joined in the demonstration Monday at the White House would oppose efforts to limit lawsuits against doctors, including the Service Employees International Union.

Lawyers, who have influence in the Senate, for example, malpractice litigation has nothing to do with the rising cost of health care. Lawyers were opposed to the tort reform measures in states like Texas, where voters have approved a law in 2003 that non-economic damages capped at $ 250,000.

Critics say the law has not helped consumers in Texas, where the average cost of health insurance the family has grown from $ 6.638 in 2000 to $ 12.403 in 2007, according to Families USA, a advocacy group.

The premiums for malpractice insurance for physicians in Texas have fallen by more than 30 percent since 2003, according to the Texas Medical Association.

Rohačka, which holds the presidency of the AMA in June, said closures could be part of a solution to rising costs. So could special health courts to deal with complex medical injury cases, he said.

With or without caps, the law would probably have to give doctors some protection if they can prove they have followed the practice guidelines published by medical societies.

WADA publishes these guidelines based on evidence, but it is difficult to monitor compliance, without electronic records, Rohačka said.

While a growing number of hospitals have computerized their medical records, not all systems can talk to each other. The federal stimulus, which opened $ 19 billion for health care technology, requires the U.S. Department of Health and Social Services to set standards for software interoperability.

"The key is present on the guidelines to reduce variation and the interoperability of electronic systems and we do not make the duplication of tests," he said.