| Medical malpractice reform and insurer claims defense: unintended effects? | |
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MedLine Citation:
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PMID: 17855719 Owner: NLM Status: MEDLINE |
Abstract/OtherAbstract:
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In response to recent and past medical malpractice insurance crises, most states have implemented reforms meant to stabilize premiums and coverage availability. The importance of understanding whether these reforms implicitly affect the behavior and incentives of plaintiffs, attorneys, medical providers, and malpractice insurers in the intended way is crucial to policy makers, if they are to achieve their goal. This study specifically examines the effect of reforms on the claims defense efforts of insurers, given that defense expenses account for approximately 30 percent of malpractice premiums. Using state data for the period 1998-2002, we regress claims defense expenses against a variety of reform variables. These include seven tort reforms (noneconomic damage caps, punitive damage limits, attorney fee limits, modified collateral source rule, modified joint and several liability doctrine, mandatory pretrial screening, and statute of limitations) and two government-sponsored insurance mechanisms (joint underwriting associations and patient compensation funds). Claims defense expenses are found to be higher in the presence of noneconomic damage caps, punitive damage limits, and attorney fee limits--an unintended and counterproductive effect of reform--but are lower with mandatory pretrial screening and patient compensation funds. |
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Authors:
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Jan M Ambrose; Anne Carroll |
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Publication Detail:
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Type: Journal Article |
Journal Detail:
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Title: Journal of health politics, policy and law Volume: 32 ISSN: 0361-6878 ISO Abbreviation: J Health Polit Policy Law Publication Date: 2007 Oct |
Date Detail:
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Created Date: 2007-09-14 Completed Date: 2008-01-17 Revised Date: - |
Medline Journal Info:
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Nlm Unique ID: 7609331 Medline TA: J Health Polit Policy Law Country: United States |
Other Details:
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Languages: eng Pagination: 843-65 Citation Subset: IM |
Affiliation:
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La Salle University. |
Export Citation:
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APA/MLA Format Download EndNote Download BibTex |
| MeSH Terms | |
Descriptor/Qualifier:
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Compensation and Redress
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legislation & jurisprudence Fees and Charges Humans Insurance, Liability / economics, legislation & jurisprudence* Legislation, Medical* Liability, Legal / economics* Malpractice / economics, legislation & jurisprudence* Motivation Policy Making Public Policy State Government United States |
From MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
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