Posting date: January 21, 2004

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Health Affairs, 10.1377/hlthaff.w4.20
Copyright © 2004 by Project HOPE

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The Medical Malpractice ‘Crisis’: Recent Trends And The Impact Of State Tort Reforms

¹ Ken Thorpe is the Robert W. Woodruff Professor and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, in Atlanta, Georgia.

^*Corresponding author.

Abstract

By many accounts, the United States is in the midst of its third medical malpractice "crisis." Physicians in several states are facing high and rising premiums. The largest national medical malpractice carrier and some large multistate physician-backed liability firms have recently left the market. Rising premiums are traced largely to increases in claims severity. Capping malpractice payments has been advanced as one approach to slowing the growth in premiums. This analysis finds that premiums in states that cap awards are 17.1 percent lower than in states that don’t cap. At issue, however, is whether these stopgap solutions promote the goals of the U.S. liability system.

Key Words: Managed Care-Medicaid, Physicians, State/Local Issues

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