Academy of Medicine of Cleveland/Northern Ohio Medical Association (AMC/NOMA)

Medical Liability Insurance Overview

 

The Academy of Medicine of Cleveland/Northern Ohio Medical Association is aware that our members are facing problems regarding the availability of professional liability insurance.  This concerns your AMC/NOMA leadership.  It concerns us because with the reduction of insurance carriers and the escalating insurance premiums, this crisis could soon create quality of care and access problems for our patients.

 

On behalf of the physicians in Northern Ohio, the AMC/NOMA is working on several initiatives to assure that the practice of medicine in Northern Ohio is not compromised.  Listed below are some examples of how the AMC/NOMA is working on behalf of you and your patients to address the professional liability issue.

 

• The AMC/NOMA mailed two separate surveys to over 2000 physicians in the greater Cleveland area asking about liability insurance costs and how these costs have affected their practice.  The data obtained from this survey has been and will continue to be utilized by the AMC/NOMA in our print material and our discussions with the media and the legislature on the issue of professional liability.  The survey asked for physicians that were willing to testify before the legislature on the issue of medical liability – 48% of the respondents to our June, 2002 survey are willing to provide testimony or anecdotes for use in testimony on this critical issue.  If physicians are interested in providing testimony and did not respond to our survey, please contact the AMC/NOMA at (216) 520-1000, ext. 321.

 

• The AMC/NOMA supports SB 281 – the medical liability reform legislation that has been introduced by David Goodman (R – Bexley).  We have also sent letters to Governor Taft and the legislature asking for their assistance regarding the professional liability crisis.  The AMC/NOMA has met with the Senate House Insurance Committee Chairman, Senator Scott Nein who will be convening hearings across the state of Ohio on SB 281.  Senator Nein plans to arrange a hearing in Cleveland.

 

• The AMC/NOMA supports Senate Bill 120 – legislation that would modify the rule of joint and several liability, replacing it with proportionate liability.  S.B. 120 would require defendants to pay only for their proportionate share of the damages.  SB 120 is pending in the House Civil and Commercial Law Committee.

 

• The AMC/NOMA supports House Bill 325 – legislation that would allow independent physicians to negotiate patient care issues with managed care plans and other entities.  Professional liability premiums could ultimately be reduced if physicians had the ability to negotiate quality of care and access issues on behalf of our patients. 

 

• The AMC/NOMA has worked with other physician groups, including the Summit County Medical Society, to prepare information for dissemination in physicians’ offices and clinics so that your patients can be educated on the serious problems that can arise regarding access to quality care due to the medical liability crisis.  Additional information was sent out in July via a special mailing of the Cleveland Physician magazine.  The magazine and medical liability reform kit over 6,200 physicians in Northeastern Ohio.

 

• The AMC/NOMA leadership has met with various companies that are looking to form medical malpractice insurance alternatives in Ohio.  The AMC/NOMA legal counsel prepared a detailed summation on these different alternatives in order to provide background information on this issue for physicians.  A copy of this summation was sent to over 6,200 physicians in Northeastern Ohio in July 2002.

 

• The AMC/NOMA has presented to rotary clubs, medical staffs and specialty societies on the need for medical liability reform in Ohio.  In August 2002, the Vice President of the AMC/NOMA will present at a Friday City Club forum on the need for medical liability and judicial reform in Ohio.

 

• The AMC/NOMA provides access to an insurance agent for members who would like assistance in obtaining new coverage or who may be interested in gathering information on alternative coverage.  

 

• The AMC/NOMA is working with our lobbyists to provide information to patients and physicians regarding the Ohio Supreme Court race.  The AMC/NOMA, through its political action committee, supports Justice Evelyn Lundberg Stratton and Lt. Governor Maureen O’Connor for the Ohio Supreme Court.  Information on these two candidates is included in the Medical Liability Reform Kit that is being sent to 6,000 physicians in the July/August issue of the Cleveland Physician magazine.

 

 

 

What Can You Do?  Take Action – physicians should write their state legislators regarding the need for meaningful tort reform in Ohio.  Physicians should also pay close attention to the Ohio Supreme Court race and watch for additional information from the AMC/NOMA on this important issue.  For more information contact Elayne R. Biddlestone at the AMC/NOMA offices at (216) 520-1000, ext. 321.