MarketWatch: Malpractice premiums and physicians' income: Perceptions of a crisis conflict with empirical evidence

Health Affairs

Volumn 25, Issue 3, 2006, Pages 750-758

  Rodwin, Marc A ^a   Chang, Hak J ^a   Clausen, Jeffrey ^a  

^a SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; ECONOMICS; EPIDEMIOLOGY; FEE; GEOGRAPHY; HUMAN; INCOME; INSURANCE; LEGAL LIABILITY; MALPRACTICE; MANAGEMENT; MEDICAL SOCIETY; MEDICINE; PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE; STATISTICS; UNITED STATES;

AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION; FEES AND CHARGES; GEOGRAPHY; HEALTH CARE SURVEYS; HUMANS; INCOME; INSURANCE, LIABILITY; LIABILITY, LEGAL; MALPRACTICE; PRACTICE MANAGEMENT, MEDICAL; PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE LOCATION; SPECIALTIES, MEDICAL; UNITED STATES;

EID: 33744732088     PISSN: 02782715     EISSN: 02782715     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.25.3.750     Document Type: Review

References (19)

1. In the 108th Congress, the bills were H.R. 1116, H.R. 1124, H.R. 1129, H.R. 1158, H.R. 321, S. 1374, H.R. 1178, H.R. 4124, H.R. 446., H.R. 447, H.R. 485, H.R. 1044, H.R. 1249, S. 352, and H.R. 1287. In the 109th Congress, they were H.R. 2657,H.R. 2400, H.R. 2291, H.R. 2399, S. 354, S. 367, S. 366, H.R. 2731, and S. 1012.
2. American Medical Association, "Medical Liability Crisis Map," 16 June 2005, http://www.amaassn.org/ama/noindex/category/11871.html (accessed 13 February 2006).
3. AMA, "AMA Applauds President's Call for Medical Liability Reform," 5 January 2005, http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/14482. html (13 February 2006).
4. T. Sullivan and H M. Ginsburg, "Local View: Insurance Costs Put Physicians on Critical List," Milford (Massachusetts) Daily News, 27 July 2003.
5. Medical Liability Monitor Reporter 27, no. 1 (August 2002);
6. and Medical Liability Monitor Reporter 28, no. 10 (October 2003).
7. Surveys were conducted by the AMA Center for Health Services Research (1970-1992); Socio-Economic Monitoring System (1992-1999); and Patient Center Physician Survey (2000). Data for 1970 are from S.G. Vahovich, ed., Profile of Medical Practice (Chicago: AMA, 1973).
8. Data for 1986 are from M.L. Gonzalez and P. Zhang, eds., Physician Marketplace Statistics 1978-1998 (Chicago: AMA, 1999);
9. and M.L. Gonzalez, ed., Physician Marketplace Statistics (Chicago: AMA, 1988).
10. Data for 1996 are from M.L. Gonzalez and P. Zhang, eds., Physician Socioeconomic Statistics 1997-1998 (Chicago: AMA, 1998).
11. Data for 2000 are from J.D. Wassenaar and S.L. Thran, eds., Physician Socioeconomic Statistics 2000-2002 (Chicago: AMA, 2003).
12. Among self-employed physicians, 25.3 percent worked in group practices with eight or more physicians, and 41.4 percent worked in smaller group practices. Solo practitioners made up 33 percent of self-employed physicians. J.D. Wassenaar and S.L. Thran, eds., Physician Socioeconomic Statistics 2003: Overview of the Physician Market (Chicago: AMA, 2003), 91-96.
13. Gonzalez, Physician Marketplace Statistics;
14. and Gonzalez and Zhang, Physician Socioeconomic Statistics 1997/1998.
15. Low nonpremium expenses are probably attributable to cost shifting for tax and other business purposes. Anesthesiologists typically have exclusive contracts with hospitals through a corporation that allows shifting practice expenses among the hospital, the corporation, and the anesthesiologists' practices.
16. New England region: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maine. Pacific region: California, Oregon and Washington. Mountain region: Montana, Idaho,Colorado, Wyoming. Middle Atlantic region: New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware. East North Central region: Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin. West North Central region: Minnesota. South Atlantic region: Florida. East South Central region: Louisiana, Mississippi. West South Central region: Texas.
17. U.S. Government Accountability Office, Medical Malpractice Insurance: Multiple Factors Have Contributed to Increased Premium Rates, Pub. no. GAO-03-702 (Washington: GAO, 2003), 42.
18. K.E. Thorpe, "The Medical Malpractice 'Crisis': Recent Trends and the Impact of State Tort Reforms," Health Affairs 23 (2004): w26-w27 (published online 21 January 2004; 10.1377/hlthaff.w4 .20).
19. "The Wealthiest Benefit More from Recent Tax Cuts," New York Times, 5 June 2005.