AMCNO and AMEF Sponsored Legal Seminars a Huge Success

The Academy of Medicine of Cleveland and Northern Ohio (AMCNO) and the Academy of Medicine Education Foundation (AMEF) sponsored legal seminars held on April 8 and April 15 that were well attended by physicians and physician office staff. Presenters included Ed Taber, Esq., Kathleen Atkinson, Esq. and Anne Kordas, R.N., Esq. from Tucker, Ellis and West LLP, Amy Leopard, Esq. from Walter & Haverfield LLP, and R. Mark Jones, Esq. and Cheryl O’Brien, Esq. from Roetzel & Andress, LPA with AMCNO president-elect Dr. Anthony Bacevice facilitating both sessions. The presenters informed the audience of the legal issues currently impacting physicians in their practices.

The first session was on the top ten medical malpractice risks for physicians based upon filed lawsuits. According to statistics provided by the Ohio Department of Insurance (ODI) on medical malpractice claims, the top specialties involved in claims (for years 2005, 2006 and 2007) are internal and family medicine, general surgery and emergency room issues. The ODI data shows the highest dollar amounts per case in these same years in the specialties of orthopedic surgery, gastrointestinal, neurology, pathology, anesthesiology, emergency room and OB/GYN.

The top ten medical situations appearing in lawsuits include blood coagulation issues, medication errors/side effects, and OB injured baby, decubitus ulcers, falls, surgical injury to surrounding tissue and organs, infections, a missed myocardial infarction, failure to provide appropriate post-discharge communication, and a late cancer diagnosis issue. Another part of the session covered issues related to the physician apology laws, with presenters explaining that in 2004 an Ohio law passed known as the physician apology law, prohibiting the use of a physician’s or staff member’s statements of sympathy for an “unanticipated outcome” as evidence in a medical liability action. While to date there have been no cases in Ohio to test this new law, in 30-35 states around the country, protections are limited to expressions of sympathy, which are not statements acknowledging fault. The presenters noted that it is always best to discuss issues with the patient at the time there has been an error rather than waiting until a lawsuit situation.

The next presentation explored the adoption of electronic health records (eHR) and health information technology (HIT) stimulus, updated attendees on the HIT donation rules and identified contractual issues with vendors. Ms. Amy Leopard explained there is a lot happening around President Obama’s commitment to invest in HIT and cut red tape, prevent medical mistakes and save billions of dollars every year by making the system more efficient.

The final presentation by Mr. R. Mark Jones and Ms. Cheryl O’Brien focused on the source of “never events.” The HHS created Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to administer the Medicare and Medicaid programs with its mission being to ensure effective, up-to-date health care coverage and promote quality care for beneficiaries. The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 directed the HHS to designate “at least two conditions” that result in a heavy financial burden to Medicare and Medicaid, changing the mission of CMS from care focus to expense focus. This Act directed that Medicare and Medicaid will not reimburse hospitals for costs incurred to treat these conditions after October 2008 if the conditions were not present at the time of admission. Full coverage of the seminar will be included in the May/June issue of the Northern Ohio Physician magazine.