Wayne W. Oliver: Proposal could cut malpractice costs, preserve physician-patient relationship

Healthcare continues to be at the center of debate in Florida’s Capitol. But while many focus on the number of Floridians covered by some form of health insurance, equal attention should be paid to the factors driving the costs of delivering healthcare. These costs affect everyone: the insured, the uninsured, employers and the State. If costs are reduced, by definition healthcare becomes more accessible to all Floridians. We must therefore look at spending on the front end and develop an effective mechanism to contain costs while considering any State options for extending coverage to more people.

Currently in Florida, the fear of medical litigation among physicians has manifested itself by the practice of defensive medicine. By definition, defensive medicine is the practice of ordering unnecessary medical tests, procedures, medications and consultations with little clinical or therapeutic value. They may, however, help physicians protect themselves against malpractice litigation.

In Florida alone, the practice of defensive medicine costs all Floridians more than $40 billion per year. The billions of dollars Florida loses each year because of unnecessary healthcare expenses is a hidden driver in the cost of healthcare, and, according to the Gallup Organization, accounts for as much as 26 percent of overall healthcare spending.

The current dysfunctional and inefficient medical malpractice system is therefore imposing an avoidable and onerous burden on a wide swath of Florida’s economy, affecting Florida’s physicians, patients, and businesses. A proposal called the Patients’ Compensation System is intended to transform the broken medical malpractice system in Florida and preserve the physician-patient relationship.

In essence, the proposal would remove medical malpractice from the inefficient court system and place it in a streamlined administrative system. Rather than flooding the courts with lawsuits that take years to resolve, the administrative model allows for a less contentious, fair and timely determination of any compensation that should be paid to an injured patient.

During a House Health and Human Services Committee meeting, Chairman Jason Brodeur of Sanford revealed an improved version of the proposal. Brodeur, a Republican, identified the legislation as a priority of his committee for the 2016 Legislative Session and a part of the solution to address the issue of escalating healthcare costs.

The newly designed Patients’ Compensation System responds to the valuable feedback from Florida’s physicians and other stakeholders, with three key fundamental changes. The new proposal:

• Applies exclusively to physicians, because physicians are uniquely forced to practice defensive medicine in order to protect themselves;
• Significantly decreases the cost of medical malpractice coverage because physicians will no longer need to purchase professional liability insurance. Under the new proposal, an administrative fee will be determined based on the specialty practice of Florida physicians — with the fee being significantly lower than current medical malpractice rates; and
• Will not increase reporting to the National Practitioner Database and Boards of Medicine.

Affordability extends to everyone across the healthcare spectrum, whether using private or public health insurance. The Patients’ Compensation System would make Florida a national model for how to protect the physician-patient relationship while reducing healthcare spending in Florida.

The new and improved Patients’ Compensation System will be filed in the 2016 Legislative Session and will be under review by Florida’s legislators.

Wayne W. Oliver, executive director, Patients for Fair Compensation. Column courtesy of Context Florida.