Common Good Chair Examines Health Care Cost-Containment; President Obama Endorses Special Health Courts

In an article for Law360, Common Good Chair Philip K. Howard argues: “Containing [health care] costs requires a legal framework that, instead of encouraging waste, encourages doctors to focus on what’s really needed.  One pillar in a new legal framework is a system of justice that is trusted to reliably distinguish between good care and bad care.”  Howard relates that “[c]reating special health courts is the proposal advanced by most serious observers to eliminate the incentives for defensive medicine,” including by various consumer advocacy and patient safety groups, and that the “public also overwhelmingly supports health courts.”  Read Howard’s full article here (subscription required).

Last week, President Obama wrote a letter to congressional leaders in which he proposed allocating $50 million to states to pilot medical liability alternatives – including special health courts.  In a press release, Philip K. Howard states: "Special health courts should provide quicker justice to patients injured by mistakes and give physicians confidence that they will not be dragged through years of litigation when they did nothing wrong.”

Health Care

» David Kendall & Anne Kim: Health Courts Should 'Serve as the Backbone' for Liability Reform

» The Hill: Health Courts Offer Bipartisan Health Care Solution

» NYT’s David Leonhardt: ‘Health Courts Could Introduce More Sanity to the Malpractice Process’

» NYT: Common Good Advisory Board Members Kolb and Gingrich on How to Fix Health Care

» Poll: One of Four Health Care Dollars Spent on Unnecessary Medical Care

Society

» Playgrounds Play Major Role In Fighting Childhood Obesity

» Richard Louv: A National Conference on Children, Nature, and the Law Is Needed

» Lenore Skenazy: Saving Our Children from a Wurst-Case Scenario?

» Fun Goes Downhill

» USA Today Letter: Safety Obsession, Lawsuits Restrict Playing Outside

» Survey: Recess Boosts Student Learning

Education

» Zero Tolerance Bill Takes a Step Forward in Georgia

» 12-Year-Old Queens Girl Hauled Out of School in Handcuffs After Getting Caught Doodling on Desk

» Fourth-Grader Nearly Suspended for Plastic, Two-Inch Toy Gun

» Editorial: Zero Tolerance Policies Often Allow for Zero Common Sense

Wall Street Journal Law Blog Interviews Common Good Chair: Part I & Part II

Common Good Chair Philip K. Howard sat down with Wall Street Journal Law Blogger Ashby Jones to discuss Life Without Lawyers and the need for an overhaul of the American legal system.

Common Good Chair on 'Washington vs. Common Sense'

Philip K. Howard argues in the Wall Street Journal that “common sense is nonexistent” in Washington.  Howard cites examples of how law and bureaucracy have stymied schools, American infrastructure, and health care reform, and makes the case that “America must shift the goal of reform from desired results—universal health care, effective schools—to a new philosophy that allows people to get things done.”

Common Good Chair on Health Reform's Missing Rx: Personal Responsibility

In an op-ed for the New York Daily News, Philip K. Howard writes that, with the American health care system’s estimated $1 trillion of wasted spending every year, reform needs to focus on containing costs.  "That's the only way America can afford universal care," Howard argues.  "What's missing in American health care," he continues, "is a basic principle essential to all human accomplishment: Individual responsibility, in this case responsibility for prudent use of health care resources."

Common Good Chair Discusses School Discipline at EducationNext

Philip K. Howard writes that applying due process to schools has made classrooms disorderly and harmed the learning process.  Howard suggests that we re-enforce the role of teachers as leaders in the classroom, and foster a culture that will “encourage all members of the school community to participate in promoting the values and discipline protocols in schools.”

COMMON GOOD CHAIR ADDRESSES TED2010

On February 13th, in what TED Curator Chris Anderson called a "stunning talk," Philip K. Howard offered four practical ways to simplify law and restore personal responsibility.

Watch Howard’s TED talk here.

RECENT EVENT

FULFILLING THE PROMISE:
ADVANCING PATIENT SAFETY AND MEDICAL LIABILITY REFORM INNOVATIONS

A forum organized by Common Good, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.

Learn more here.

POLL: NOW IS THE MOMENT FOR MEDICAL LIABILITY REFORM

A poll released jointly by Common Good and CED shows overwhelming public support for medical liability reform and the creation of special health courts.  Read the press release here, and a summary of the results here.

NEWTALK

Most Recent:
Social Innovation in America's Cities

In September, NewTalk hosted a special collaboration with the Harvard Kennedy School on how to foster successful social innovations to meet community needs.

LIFE WITHOUT LAWYERS
Now in paperback, with a new Afterword