In Medical Malpractice Reform, States Should Shirk the Washington Way

Kathryn Nix / June 16, 2010

It’s long been established that part of controlling rising health care spending in the United States will mean enacting meaningful medical malpractice, or “tort”, reform.  Though tort reform is not a silver bullet to creating savings, it is one of many changes vital to containing patients’ medical costs.

Unfortunately, in passing the mammoth Obamacare, Congress and the president failed to take tort reform seriously, leaving out any serious provisions to encourage states to reform their medical malpractice laws.  Instead, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act threw an illusory bone to Republicans, the main proponents of tort reform, through the inclusion of $25 million in demonstration grants to try out new state-level ideas for reform.

This week, the Department of Health and Human Services announced the winners of the grants.  The money will be split among small, voluntary programs by hospitals and medical centers and “planning grants”.  Completely unacknowledged are the several states where malpractice reform has already been enacted with clear results. (more…)