Huffington Post Puts Defensive Medicine on Trial

An article on Huffington Post puts defensive medicine on trial: It's Time to Call Their Bluff: "Defensive Medicine" Is a Fraud. The January 6 post by Joanne Doroshow states:

While anonymous doctor surveys provide the principal foundation for the argument that widespread "defensive medicine" exists, credible organizations who have looked into the issue have had a very hard time identifying pervasive "defensive medicine," especially when managed care companies are paying the bill.

But, writes Doroshow, there is another issue.

In these anonymous surveys, doctors never actually identify specific tests or procedures they have conducted for the primary purpose of avoiding a lawsuit, let alone a service they would no longer perform if severe "tort reform" were enacted. There is no better illustration of this than the June 1, 2009, New Yorker magazine article called "The Cost Conundrum; What a Texas town can teach us about health care," by Dr. Atul Gawande. This widely-circulated article explored why the town of McAllen, Texas "was the country's most expensive place for health care."

Click through to read the full Huffington Post, and to link through to The New Yorker article Cost Conundrum.

Study Reveals Cost of Malpractice Insurance, Verdicts and Settlements and Defensive Medicine Accounts for Only About 2.4% of US Healthcare Spend

A recent study published in the public policy journal Health Affairs, Low Costs Of Defensive Medicine, Small Savings From Tort Reform, provides important information about the costs of medical malpractice litigation and defensive medicine in comparison to the total cost of U.S. health care. The study shows that the medical liability system, a vital means for holding health care professionals accountable to accepted standards, amounts to only 2.4 percent of American health care expenditures.

In light of Health and Human Services (HHS) data showing that the U.S. spent $7,681 per person in 2008 on health care, the study results suggest that only $185 of that amount goes toward malpractice insurance, "defensive" medical tests, legal costs and the verdicts and settlements paid to patients. Contrary to the negative attention that litigation received during the recent national health care dialogue, this figure seems surprisingly modest given what Americans pay for other hedges against risk, such as car, home and life insurance.

Learn more at Health Affairs.