Malpractice premiums in Massachusetts, a high-risk state: 1975 to 2005

Health Affairs

Volumn 27, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 835-844

  Rodwin, Marc A ^a   Chang, Hak J ^b   Ozaeta, Melissa M ^a   Omar, Richard J ^a  

^a SUFFOLK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; HEALTH CARE POLICY; HUMAN; INSURANCE; LEGAL LIABILITY; MAJOR CLINICAL STUDY; MALPRACTICE; MEDICAL FEE; MEDICAL PRACTICE; MEDICAL SOCIETY; MEDICAL SPECIALIST;

INSURANCE, LIABILITY; LIABILITY, LEGAL; MALPRACTICE; MASSACHUSETTS; PHYSICIANS; RISK ASSESSMENT; STATE HEALTH PLANS; UNITED STATES;

EID: 44449086090     PISSN: 02782715     EISSN: 02782715     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1377/hlthaff.27.3.835     Document Type: Article

References (26)

1. The main source on premiuminformation is the Medical Liability Monitor Reporter (MLMR), which tracks company rate sheets. Premiums paid, however, are adjusted from rate sheets based on risk factors and discounted to make sales. Furthermore, the MLMR averages do not account for differences in types of policies or the dollar level of coverage purchased, which affect price.
2. See S.G. Vahovich, ed., Profile of Medical Practice (Chicago: American Medical Association, 1973);
3. and J.D. Wassenaar and S.L. Thran, eds., Physician Socioeconomic Statistics 2000-2002 (Chicago: AMA, 2003).
4. M.A. Rodwin, H.J. Chang, and J. Clausen, "Malpractice Premiums and Physicians' Income: Perceptions of a Crisis Conflict with Empirical Evidence," Health Affairs 25, no. 3 (2006): 750-758.
5. Calculations based on NPDB data adjusted by state population from U.S. census data for 2001-2004.
6. AMA, "America's Medical Liability Crisis: A National View" (Chicago: AMA, January 2007).
7. Massachusetts General Laws, Ch. 231, sec. 60H (2000).
8. Massachusetts Medical Society, "Background: Massachusetts Medical Liability Crisis" (Waltham: MMS, 14 June 2004).
9. A.M. Best Company, Best's Market Share Reports, Massachusetts - Professional Liability Insurance (CD-ROM) (Oldwick, N.J.: A.M. Best Company, 2005).
10. B. Black et al., "Stability, Not Crisis: Medical Malpractice Claim Outcomes in Texas, 1988-2002," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 2, no. 2 (2005): 207-259.
11. M.L. Gonzalez and P. Zhang, eds., Physician Marketplace Statistics 1978-1998 (Chicago: AMA, 1999).
12. Supplemental Exhibit 1 (online) displays the distribution of physicians receiving various discounts. See http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/ full/27/3/835/DC1.
13. Supplemental Exhibit 2 (online) displays this information for 2000. Ibid.
14. 243 Code of Massachusetts Regulations, sec. 2.07 (16), Mandatory Professional Malpractice Liability Insurance, 20 February 1987, p. 30.
15. Supplemental Exhibit 3 (online, as in Note 11) displays the distribution of all policies by type and dollar coverage from 1990 to 2005.
16. Supplemental Exhibit 4 lists premiums for the insurer's nineteen rate groups for $1/3 million coverage and the percentage of physicians purchasing such policies by each rate group from 1990 to 2005. Online as in Note 11.
17. R. Moore, "Memorandum: Comparison of Pro-Mutual Policy Counts to BRM Licensed Physician Counts" (Boston: ProMutual, 31 July 1997).
18. Massachusetts insurance rate filings, for Pro-Mutual and Medical Protective.
19. T. Baker, "Medical Malpractice and the Insurance Underwriting Cycle," DePaul University Law Review 54, no. 2 (2005): 393-438.
20. K. Karl, T. Holzheu, and M. Raturi, "Capital Markets and Insurance Cycles," Journal of Risk Finance 4, no. 4 (2003): 40-46.
21. See B. Black et al., "Stability, Not Crisis: Medical Malpractice Outcomes in Texas, 1988-2002," Journal of Empirical Legal Studies 2, no. 2 (2005): 207-259.
22. E.A. Brunner, "The National Association of Insurance Commissioners Closed Claims Study," in Analysis of Anesthetic Mishaps, ed. C.P. Ellison Jr. and J.B. Cooper (New York: Little Brown, 1984), 17-30.
23. T.A. Brennan, "Methods for Setting Priorities for Guidelines Development: Medical Malpractice, Appendix C," in Setting Priorities for Clinical Practice Guidelines, ed. M.J. Field (Washington: National Academies Press, 1995), 111-132.
24. J.A Henderson, "The Virginia Birth-Related Injury Compensation Act: Limited No-Fault Statutes as Solutions to the 'Medical Malpractice Crisis'," in Medical Professional Liability and Delivery of Obstetrical Care: An Interdisciplinary Review, ed. V.P. Rostow and R.J. Bulger (Washington: National Academies Press, 1989), 194-212.
25. C.G. Phillips and E.H. Etsty, "A Fault-Based Administrative Alternative to Resolving Medical Malpractice Claims: The AMA-Specialty Society Medical Liability Project's Proposal and Its Relevance to the Crisis in Obstetrics," in Medical Professional Liability, vol. 2, ed. Rostow and Bulger, 136-160.
26. W.K. Mariner, "The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program," Health Affairs 11, no. 1 (1992): 255-265.