Physician Malpractice Payments Decreased in 2009, Says Public Citizen

In a letter to congressional leadership this week, President Obama—under fire from the GOP for not better addressing tort reform in current healthcare legislation—called for funding alternative demonstration projects, such as health courts, for resolving medical malpractice disputes.

Public Citizen said the health courts would cost several times as much as the status quo, if administered fairly, and that the only way to save money would be to impose "draconian" compensation caps.

Public Citizen added that 2009 was the fifth straight year the number of malpractice payments has fallen and the sixth straight year in which the value of payments has fallen. In contrast, US healthcare costs have increased every year since 1965. Between 2000 and 2009, healthcare spending rose 83% while medical malpractice payments fell 8%—with both figures in unadjusted dollars. A total of 10,772 payments were made on behalf of doctors in 2009, totaling $3.5 billion. That figure equals .14% of the estimated $2.5 trillion that CMS estimated was spent on US healthcare in 2009, Public Citizen said.

The advocacy group added that numerous studies have found that injuries and deaths caused by medical errors dwarf the number of actual malpractice payments.