Medical liability reform has not been an area of focus in the health reform debate since September when President Obama directed the Department of Health and Human Services to provide $25 million for medical liability reform and patient safety planning grants. A Congressional Budget Office (CBO) report, also mentioned on Disputing (post available here) may reinvigorate the medical liability reform debate. Details on this debate and the effect of the CBO report is provided at American Medical News.
The CBO report estimates that implementing a nationwide package of tort reform proposals would result in reductions of health care spending of about 0.5 percent or about $11 billion in 2009. This figure represents a reduction of 0.2 percent from lower medical liability premiums and a 0.3 percent reduction from less utilization of health care services.
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[...] The CBO estimated that implementing a typical package of tort reform proposals nationwide would reduce total U.S. health care spending by about 0.5 percent (about $11 billion in 2009) or roughly $54 billion over the next 10 years. That figure is the sum of a direct reduction in spending of 0.2 percent from lower medical liability premiums and an additional indirect reduction of 0.3 percent from slightly less utilization of health care services. Those estimates take into account the fact that because many states have already implemented some of the changes in the package, a significant fraction of the potential cost savings has already been realized. (read more here) [...]
[...] In November, the AHRQ announced it will solicit applications for planning grants from States and health care systems for “patient safety and medical liability innovations that put patient safety first and work to reduce preventable injuries; foster better communication between doctors and nurses; ensure that patients are compensated in a fair and timely manner for medical injuries, while also reducing the incidence of frivolous lawsuits; and reduce liability premiums”. Grant proposals may be submitted beginning December 20 and are due by January 20, 2010. (read more here) [...]