News: Medical Malpractice Insurance and Physician Practices

Side Note: this article from the Wall Street Journal details a new pilot program in New York aimed at stabilizing that state’s volatile malpractice climate.  The program is funded by a $3 million grant, a part of Obama’s health care reform package.  The central feature of the pilot program is mediation of malpractice cases by [...]

Side Note: This article from the Associated Press describes one New York judge’s unique approach to the problems of the U.S. malpractice system.  Judge McKeon call his approach “judge-directed negotiations”, and focuses on humanizing malpractice cases and patiently working with all parties to reach a fair resolution.  The New York City court system has received a grant of [...]

side note: This article from Dermatology Times reviews the efforts of medical groups to make tort reform an issue in Obama’s health care reform plan, and examines the results of a new Harvard study on tort reform mechanisms.  The Cunningham Group is dedicated to providing low medical liability insurance premiums to our clients, so we [...]

Side Note: We here at the Cunningham Group have been carefully tracking the aftermath of the Illinois Supreme Court’s reversal of tort reform legislation in our blog.  Thomas Kilbride, one of the judges who voted to overturn tort reform for medical malpractice cases in February, is running for retention in November.  This election a chance [...]

We here at Cunningham Group were extremely disappointed that trial lawyers got their way in Illinois and were able to strike down the 2005 Tort Reform legislation put into place to help with the absurd insurance rates physicians have to pay for their professional medical liability. A new study conducted by the consulting firm [...]

side note: We pride ourselves on being advocates for Physicians and were displeased to see the personal trial lawyers of Illinois get handed a victory by the state’s Supreme Court. This will probably lead to more frivolous lawsuits against good physicians. The tort reform bill signed into law in 2005 had kept [...]

by Matt Burns
http://www.bizjournals.com
Medical malpractice claims and insurance rates fell again in Ohio in 2007, but the state’s top insurance official isn’t calling a win just yet for tort reform legislation that took effect in 2003.
The Ohio Department of Insurance’s third annual report on professional liability claims shows 3,451 claims closed in 2007, the latest year [...]

Dallas Business Journal
http://www.bizjournals.com/
A house bill that passed the Texas Legislature in 2003 is now receiving credit for getting emergency physicians back into the ER.
The Texas College of Emergency Physicians held a press conference in Austin on Tuesday, thanking lawmakers for the passage of House Bill 4 six years ago — a move they credit for [...]