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Bipartisan Legislation to Create Special Health Courts is Introduced in U.S. Senate The Bill, Advancing an Idea Championed by Common Good, Would Authorize Funding for States to Create Health Courts on a Pilot Project Basis
Common Good Press Release, June 30, 2005 Senators Michael Enzi (R-WY) and Max Baucus (D-MT) have introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate to create special health courts on a pilot project basis. Known as the Fair and Reliable Medical Justice Act, the bill is backed by a broad coalition of patient advocates and providers and responds to the Institute of Medicine's call for the development of alternatives to current medical tort litigation. Sen. Enzi is Chair of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, & Pensions. Committee hearings on the legislation occurred on June 22nd, 2006. Read more.
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The Enzi-Baucus legislation enjoys prominent, bi-partisan support. Here is what a few national leaders had to say:
"The current legal system presents real barriers to improving the quality of American health care. The legislation introduced by Senators Enzi and Baucus--oriented around exploring alternatives to the current malpractice system--represents a major positive development."--Margaret E. O'Kane, President, National Committee for Quality Assurance
"I've been working to improve patient safety since medical errors resulted in the death of my husband and a serious injury to my son--reforming the legal system is crucial. The legislation introduced by Senator Enzi and Senator Baucus is a very positive development."--Susan E. Sheridan, Co-Founder, Consumers Advancing Patient Safety
"The Progressive Policy Institute congratulates Senators Mike Enzi and Max Baucus for introducing legislation to create specialized health courts as pilot projects that could eventually replace America's broken system of medical justice."--David Kendall, Senior Fellow, Progressive Policy Institute
"The legislation introduced by my friends Senators Mike Enzi and Max Baucus represents a critically important step in developing a more reliable system of medical justice."--Alan K. Simpson, Former U.S. Senator, Wyoming
"The Enzi-Baucus bill to create health courts is a major step toward breaking the logjam over litigation reform. For too long doctors have been driven out of practice and Americans have found themselves losing their healthcare because of excess litigation. This bill is a very creative effort to find a new and better solution."--Newt Gingrich, Founder, Center for Health Transformation, Former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
"The medical liability crisis is a serious problem that is driving up the cost of care, driving physicians out of the health care delivery system and not even effectively compensating those who have been hurt by medical errors. Aetna supports a liability system that is centered on patients and safety and one that uses the best medical expertise available to answer questions of fact in medical liability cases. The use of special health courts could be a key component of a comprehensive solution to the problem. The comprehensive solution should include efforts to (a) avoid medical errors in the first place and (b) establish an efficient mechanism to ensure that those who are hurt are fairly compensated. Special health courts that bring medical expertise to bear would be helpful, along with uniform medical liability reform, improved patient safety and better use of national medical data."--John W. Rowe, M.D., Chairman and CEO, Aetna |
The bill's purpose is:
- To restore fairness and reliability to the medical justice system by fostering alternatives to current medical tort litigation, including the creation of a special health care court, that promote early disclosure of health care errors and provide prompt, fair, and reasonable compensation to patients who are injured by health care errors;
- To promote patient safety through early disclosure of health care errors; and
- To support and assist states in developing such alternatives.
The bill would authorize the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to award up to 10 demonstration grants to states for the development, implementation and evaluation of alternatives to current tort litigation for resolving disputes over medical errors. Within that context, the bill specifically authorizes the creation of a special health care court. The hallmark of such a court would be full-time judges with health care expertise, whose sole focus would be on addressing medical malpractice cases.
"This important bill, introduced by Senators Enzi and Baucus, points the way to making justice in health care serve our common goals," said Philip K. Howard, Chair of Common Good. "Special health courts can offer reliable justice for doctors and patients alike, while providing affirmative rulings to improve patient safety. Both Senators deserve great praise for advancing this bipartisan initiative."
"Reliable and timely decisions by expert courts are needed for real improvements in patient safety, as well as basic fairness," said Troyen Brennan, MD, M.P.H., a Professor at the Department of Health Policy and Management at Harvard School of Public Health. "The important legislation introduced by Senators Enzi and Baucus is a very significant step in the right direction."
"The current medical liability system incentivizes cover-up and blame, fueling the epidemic of medical error," said Martin J. Hatlie, President of the Partnership for Patient Safety. "The legislation introduced by Senator Enzi and Senator Baucus can help create the system of justice that both consumers and providers need to restore trust between them, improve health care and save lives."
"Health courts are needed to provide fair resolution to both patients and health care providers," said William L. Roper, M.D., M.P.H., Dean of the School of Medicine and CEO of the University of North Carolina Health Care System. "The legislation introduced by Senators Enzi and Baucus represents an important step in developing a more reliable system of medical justice."
More than 80 of the nation's most prominent leaders in health care and law--including patient safety experts and 11 deans of medical schools or schools of public health--have called for the creation of special health courts as a way of restoring reliability to medical justice. Their call was precipitated by inadequacies and inequities in the current system:
- At present, less than two percent of patients with medical injuries due to substandard care file a claim, and even fewer receive compensation. Those fortunate enough to receive compensation will have waited an average of four years in the court system before receiving a dime.
- The current system cannot reliably distinguish good doctors from bad ones, which exposes medical professionals who have done nothing wrong to the risk of ruinous liability. Eighty percent of claims involve situations where doctors did no wrong. Nonetheless, plaintiffs receive compensation in a quarter of these cases.
- The current system harms patient quality and safety. Fear of litigation drives costly and inefficient "defensive medicine," while creating incentives for health care providers to cover up their own mistakes and the mistakes of their colleagues. This culture of silence prevents doctors from learning from mistakes, and leads to needless suffering and death.
Read the Fair and Reliable Medical Justice Act.
Read the Common Good press release.
Read the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists' endorsement of the bill.
Read about other health court legislation at the federal and state levels.
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