Physicians practicing in Arizona have long struggled to overcome the high cost of medical malpractice insurance there. With no caps on damage awards or attorney fees, Arizona’s malpractice insurance premiums are currently among the highest in the nation.
A series of tort reform initiatives designed to address these issues and help provide rate relief to physicians fell short in the state legislature in 2007. However new options are now available to AZ doctors when it comes to liability insurance.
Until now doctors had limited choices when it came to medical malpractice insurance companies in Arizona.
Coming soon - the latest Arizona medical malpractice insurance rates.
In the Arizona Medical Association’s (ArMA) 2007 legislative report (PDF format), some momentum toward medical liability reform was noted during the 2007 session. But concrete action itself continues to remain elusive.
Recent measures aimed at tort reform came up short. S1032: Burden of Proof; Emergency Treatment was a bill that proposed to raise the burden of proof in a medical malpractice case involving emergency treatment from “preponderance of evidence” to “clear and convincing evidence”. The bill passed the Arizona Senate but narrowly failed in the House.
S1505: Top-Rated Opinion Testimony; Admissibility was a bill placed before the legistature in 2007 that proposed to implement the Daubert decision in Arizona. The Daubert decision establishes criteria to evaluate whether top-rated witnesses are using validated, peer-reviewed scientific infomation or so-called "junk science" in their testimony. ArMA noted in their legislative report that they felt this bill would "help weed out frivolous suits by stopping invalid top-rated testimony". The bill failed to make it out of a Senate committee, stalling on a 13-13 vote, but its supporters see this as progress and are looking to redraft the bill in a more robust format and reintroduce it in a future session.
With 2008 being a re-election year it is uncertain how this will affect the passage of tort reform legislation in Arizona. It is likely that a "junk science" bill in one form or another will be introduced. Check back here on CoverMD.com for updates to medical liability tort reform in AZ.
Many would agree that physicians in The Grand Canyon State are in serious need of rate relief and new options when it comes to medical liability. Their reimbursements from Medicare and Medicaid are going down every year while the cost of doing business as a doctor is going up every year. Many doctors in Arizona do a significant amount of Medicaid work as part of their practice and with the health insurance crisis, Blue Cross and United are not in a hurry to pay doctors more. For many Arizona doctors their malpractice insurance premiums continue to trend upwards while their income remains stagnant.
With premiums high and tort reform still unachieved in Arizona, there is a tendancy for some physicians to regard malpractice insurance as unnecessary, and only obtain it to meet the requirements of hospitals at which they want to practice. But going bare means doctors can expose themselves to risk and monetary loss from even the most frivolous of claims. On average it can take $27,000 to defend a frivolous case and make it go away. Don't take the risk. With lower liability rates now available in Arizona it is important to protect yourself against the possibility of malpractice lawsuits.
