Patients in southeastern and northeastern Ohio are feeling the impact of the medical malpractice crisis according to several doctors who testified before the Ohio Medical Malpractice Commission yesterday at the Ohio Department of Insurance. Additionally, recruitment and retention efforts at some independent and university hospitals in those regions are suffering, as new doctors leave Ohio for more favorable medical liability premiums in other states.
"It is clear that recruitment and retention efforts are being impacted by the medical malpractice crisis in Ohio," said Medical Malpractice Commission Chair and Ohio Insurance Director Ann Womer Benjamin. "Access to care may also be impacted in some specialties in certain geographic locations in the state, which the Medical Malpractice Commission will continue to investigate."
Statistics cited in testimony before the Commission showed that certain specialties, including obstetrician-gynecologists, have been hit particularly hard by the crisis. According to Dr. John A. Brose, dean of Ohio University College of Osteopathic Medicine, all five family physicians stopped delivering babies, one gynecologist left and two out of the three remaining surgeons in the Athens community in southeastern Ohio left since last year. Additionally, Brose testified that surgery for Medicaid patients is unavailable in the area for non-emergent care.
Dr. James Dougherty, head of the Medical Education Department at Akron General Hospital, testified that his hospital and other Akron-area hospitals are not only finding it difficult to recruit new doctors to practice in northeast Ohio, but retaining resident physicians is increasingly a challenge. According to Dougherty, only 43 percent (27 percent for Akron General) of residents now stay in northeast Ohio to practice medicine where 63 percent stayed in the area in 2002.
"Doctors are leaving Ohio because of soaring medical liability premiums," Womer Benjamin said. "The Department of Insurance is documenting their exodus, and we are aggressively investigating ways to stem the generational impact of the crisis. Our investigation of states with stable medical liability markets has revealed that tort reform coupled with other measures like a patient compensation fund have produced markets with average premiums that are about half of what doctors in certain high-risk specialties are paying in Ohio."
The AMC/NOMA had previously provided the Director with our survey data from physicians and medical students in Northeastern Ohio, as well as hospital CEOs from around the state. Our data clearly showed the same results as the testimony provided to the commission yesterday. The AMC/NOMA will continue to work with ODI with regard to the medical liability crisis.