A Senate panel began hearings last week on the latest response to rising medical liability insurance premiums: a ten-year, statewide pilot program requiring mandatory arbitration of claims that could avoid a trip to court. Senator Kevin Coughlin (R-Cuyahoga Falls) outlined provisions of his legislation – SB 88 - for mandatory non-binding arbitration of medical negligence claims. The need, he said, is clear: a Department of Insurance survey of physicians showed 96% of respondents had insurance premium increases last year, and the average boost from 2003 was 39 percent. Surveys went to a random sample 8,000 physicians, and ODI received a 17% response rate. Four out of ten respondents said they have retired or plan to retire in the next three years due to rising insurance costs. Only 9% of the respondents were over age 64. AMC/NOMA members may view the survey at www.ohioinsurance.gov.
As noted in a recent issue of the Cleveland Physician, this legislation was initiated by the work of the AMC/NOMA. The bill would create an arbitration panel made up of three members from the American Health Lawyers Alternative Dispute Resolution Service. Claimants and respondents each would select one member of the panel, and those two would then choose a third member to serve as chair. Injured parties would submit medical and other records to a panel to determine if a claim was legitimate. Parties could accept a panel’s evaluation, or reject it and proceed to court. A panel’s evaluation would not be admissible in subsequent court proceedings, and members could not testify or provide depositions.
As part of his sponsor testimony, Senator Coughlin indicated that the ODI was expected to release additional recommendations in response to the problem of rising premiums as part of the final Ohio Medical Malpractice Commission report due out in April 2005. Proponent testimony has been scheduled for the morning of April 5th at the Statehouse. Leadership from the AMC/NOMA will be testifying in support of SB 88.
AMC/NOMA members will soon be receiving a NOMPAC mailer along with background information on SB 88. The mailer will include a sample letter to legislators – we ask all of our members to send letters of support on SB 88 to the members of the Senate Insurance, Commerce and Labor Committee. Watch your mail or go to our web site at www.amcnoma.org and go to the link about mandatory arbitration for more background on SB 88 – or go to the Legislation link on our web site and click on “Find Your Legislator” to view our action alert on SB 88. A sample letter to legislators may also be found at these links on our web site.