But despite President Barack Obama bringing up tort reform during his speech to Congress last week, the emergency medicine physician isn't convinced meaningful change is on the way.
"It was a token attempt," said Beier, chairman of Middle Tennessee Medical Center's emergency department and government affairs chairman for the American Academy of Emergency Medicine. "I would be surprised to see the Democratic Party and Congress do the right thing and take on the (trial lawyers)."
However, a day after Obama's speech, his spokesman Robert Gibbs said the White House would look closely at an amendment that Tennessee Congressman Bart Gordon wants to keep in the House health-care bill. It would offer states incentives to implement programs as alternatives to medical malpractice lawsuits.
Novel ideas include a board of medical professionals charged with certifying validity of any litigation before it can move forward; and early-offer programs designed to encourage doctors to admit errors and offer restitution to patients rather than fighting it out in court.
In Tennessee, malpractice lawsuit filings dropped by 53 percent in the first nine months after a "certificate of merit" program went into effect a year ago. Doctors, meanwhile, were expected to pay 2.5 percent less in insurance premiums this year.
Nationwide, such malpractice premiums cost doctors $12.8 billion last year. And payouts to settlements and awards to plaintiffs totaled $7.9 billion. Typically, about 60 percent of that total goes for attorneys' fees and expenses.
Beier, an expert witness in medical lawsuits, says the current system is skewed in favor of lawyers and plaintiffs. He said only 13 percent of cases have any merit. That leads doctors and hospitals to order extra tests or admit patients unnecessarily as defensive medicine, he says, all of which drives up U.S. health-care costs.
Not everyone agrees with those numbers. An analysis by the Government Accountability Office shows medical malpractice adds only 2 percent to the cost of health care. If defensive medicine practices were included, the cost would rise to 15 percent, according to some other analysts.
U.S. Rep. Jim Cooper, D-Nashville, lists higher reimbursements and ownership of testing machines and facilities as factors behind defensive medical practices. He said all of the excess isn't driven by fear of lawsuits.
Cooper sees Gordon's amendment as a good first step to weed out abuse, though. "Tort reform is easier than reforming the culture of medicine," Cooper said. "It amounts to changing the delivery system for medicine and doctors are going to have to want to do that."
Know Your Buyers; Better Their Lives‘Safety net’ hospitals fear they won’t survive health-care reform
