Top 3 Updates on Professional Liability

by Jack Lewin August 24, 2010 05:28

A lot is going on in with professional liability these days.

  1. InsideHealthPolicy.com recently reported that it is not looking like Congress will fund a tort reform provision of the health reform law (PPACA). The provision authorized $50 million to be spent on medical liability demonstration grants to test out ways to improve the tort system. However, the Senate’s final 2011 HHS appropriations bill does not include this funding, and some following the House process (the actual details are still embargoed) don’t believe they’ll include it either. Senate HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Tom Harkin (D-IA) said that the Senate didn’t include the funding because it wasn’t requested. HOWEVER, in a separate project by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, $25 million has been awarded for a project with similar goals.
  2. Given that Congress isn’t exactly moving at a speedy pace with tort reform, the ACC launched a resource on Friday to help practices and physicians reduce their claims risk. The ACCF’s Risk Management Institute (ACCRMI) provides case-based risk management education tools and information to reduce the risk of medical professional liability claims (by increasing patient safety). ACCRMI’s education tools draw from real life in cardiovascular medicine because they are built from data regarding trends analysis gathered from closed medical professional liability claims involving cardiovascular disease treatment. To help develop the ACCRMI, the Physician Insurers Association of America (PIAA) shared information with ACC from closed claims between 1986 and 2008. Learn more about the ACCRMI at http://CardioSource.org/RMI.
  3. Finally, the House Energy and Commerce Committee back in July approved H.R. 1745, the “Family Health Care Accessibility Act.” The bill amends the Public Health Service Act to provide tort liability protection for volunteer practitioners at community health centers. The ACC is developing a liability law proposal that would be broader than H.R. 1745, which would at least be one step in the right direction to lowering liability protection premium costs.

Comments

Comments are closed

Powered by BlogEngine.NET 1.4.5.0
Theme by Mads Kristensen

About the Authors

The ACC in Touch blog is co-authored by ACC CEO Jack Lewin, MD, current ACC President David Holmes, MD, FACC, and Board of Governors Chair Thad Waites, MD, FACC.

Jack Lewin Jack Lewin, MD, has been chief executive officer of the ACC since November 2006. Under his leadership the College has continued to build upon its standing as a national leader in advocacy, with a particular focus on reforming Medicare, Medicaid, and the financing and delivery of quality health care.

David Holmes

David Holmes, MD, FACC, became ACC president in April 2011. Dr. Holmes is the Edward W. and Betty Knight Scripps Professor in Cardiovascular Medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and an interventional cardiologist in the Division of Cardiovascular Diseases and the Department of Internal Medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.

Thad Waites

Thad Waites, MD, FACC, began as Board of Governors chair in April 2011, and currently practices clinical cardiology with emphasis on interventional cardiology at Hattiesburg Clinic in Hattiesburg, Miss. He is also a board member of the Mississippi State Board of Health, and director of the cardiac cath lab at Forrest General Hospital.

Learn more about Drs. Lewin, Holmes and Waites.



Recent Comments

Comment RSS

The ACC is Your CardioSource!

Visit CardioSource.org for the most comprehensive online cardiovascular resource, with outstanding content, streamlined access, and advanced customization.

Calendar

<<  February 2012  >>
MoTuWeThFrSaSu
303112345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728291234
567891011

View posts in large calendar