FROM:  AMC/NOMA Staff

SUBJECT:  AMC/NOMA Notables

 

Date:  February 26, 2002

 

AMC/NOMA provides print materials through fax blasts, our magazine – The Cleveland Physician, fact sheets, mailers and through our Web site at www.amcnoma.org.  Periodically the physician members with email addresses will receive the AMC/NOMA Notables.   

 

 

AMC/NOMA

Professional 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 a survey 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 AMC/NOMA has requested the assistance of Governor Taft and the legislature to evaluate the professional liability crisis.  The AMC/NOMA has met with House Insurance Committee Chairman, Dennis Stapleton who will be convening a task force to evaluate the professional liability situation.  Chairman Stapleton will begin hearings in the spring.

 

• 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 is working 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 professional liability crisis.

 

• 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.  We plan to support candidates for the Ohio Supreme Court that are amenable to the concept of meaningful tort reform, including placing caps on non-economic damages and developing alternative dispute resolution processes in the state. 

 

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.

 

     AMA & American Tort Reform Association address letter to Congress

     The medical liability crisis is once again addressed in a letter sent to Congress by the American Medical Association and members of the American Tort Reform Association's Medical Liability Committee.  The letter urges Congress to address the medical liability crisis and litigation that is "destroying our health care system."  A fact sheet was also included with the letter, presenting some of the medical liability challenges across the country.

      "Years of lawsuit abuse are driving doctors out of the medical profession, compromising patient access to care, decreasing the quality of care patients receive, and generating higher health care costs for everyone," the letter states.  The Associations urge Congress for strong civil justice reform laws, which have been shown to improve patient access to affordable care and reduce costs associated with the practice of "defensive" medicine and follow the lead of those states that already have made medical liability reform a priority.

 

Bills seek change in payments to Medicare physicians 

     House Bill 3569:  Proposals to change the Geographic Practice Cost Index (GPCI) are currently proceeding through Congress.  Rep. Doug Bereuter (R-Neb.) asked the House Commerce Health Subcommittee to support the bill.  The bill will remove use of time, intensity and effort from the current formula.  It will also set a “floor” of 1.000 for the work GPCI in rural states and do so without adjusting the GPCI in metropolitan areas.   The bill will increase payments to doctors and other providers in rural areas by slowly increasing the “physician work adjuster” (the work GPCI’s) over four years.  If passed this year, the bill will increase payments by $384.8 million over the next four years. 

     S. 1020 and HR 2483:  (S. 1020) the Medicare Fairness in Reimbursement Act of 2001 is sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D. Iowa) and bill (HR 2483) in the House, sponsored by Rep. Leonard Boswell (D-Iowa), seek to change the GPCI formula.  Sen. Russ Feingold (D. Wisc.) also sponsored a bill, Feb. 15, which seeks to change the payment formula. The bill, Physician Wage Fairness Act of 2002, has not yet been assigned a number.  This legislation promotes equity in payments to physicians and other health professionals under Medicare Part B by reforming the current formula used to determine Medicare payment rates.

 

   

OHA offers hospitals CARE System

     The Ohio Hospital Association (OHA) has developed, and is offering to hospitals, a data tracking system, which allows hospitals to easily track, analyze and improve the care that they provide to patients, using Internet technology to speed the process.  The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) has approved the CARE System, Core Analysis Research Evolution, as a performance measurement provider for core measures.

     Core measurement data is designed to help hospitals analyze and improve patient care.  One example of its use, measures, examine the use of drug therapies for patients with congestive heart failure and the timing for interventional treatment for patients with confirmed heart attacks.  The CARE System provides all elements needed to satisfy JCAHO core measures requirements and also allows hospitals to benchmark their performance against other hospitals across the state or nation. Four medical conditions targeted to be analyzed by the JCAHO core measures (heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia and pregnancy) are covered by the OHA CARE System.  Hospitals that are accredited by the Joint Commission are required to select a system by June 30 for reporting two of the four core measure sets.     For more information about the CARE System visit OHA's Web site at:  www.ohanet.org and click on the box CARE SYSTEM.

 

Classified ads are FREE to AMC/NOMA members

     As a member of AMC/NOMA you have the opportunity to post job listings on the web.  This service is always free of charge to members.  Visit the AMC/NOMA website at www.amcnoma.org, then click on Member Information, scroll down to Employment Classifieds Form and click on that.  Simply fill out the form and then click on "Submit."  Your ad will post on the Home page under "Classifieds."  Ads will remain posted for two weeks.

·         This service requires the use of your User Name and Password. For further information on this free service or assistance with your password, please contact AMC/NOMA at 216-520-1000. 

Note:  “AMC/NOMA Notables” includes links that provide direct access to Internet sites other than the AMC/NOMA site, the AMC/NOMA takes no responsibility for the content or information obtained on those other web sites, and we do not have any editorial or other control over those web sites.  Additional information on these topics may be available on our web site at www.amcnoma.org.