AM Best maintained its negative outlook for the U.S. medical professional liability (MPL) insurance segment in 2022. In a Market Segment Outlook published recently, the global credit ratings agency cited the ongoing pressures of a depressed demand, rising loss cost trends, an increase in high-severity claims, social inflation and diminishing reserve redundancies as justification for continued […]

The 2022 Q3 #1 State Update can be found here. Missouri Considers Shrinking its Personal Injury Statute of Limitations Legislators in both chambers of the Missouri General Assembly are currently debating bills to shrink the state’s statute of limitations for personal injury claims from five to two years. Only Maine and South Dakota have longer […]

A growing number of state medical boards have been pushing back against the minority of healthcare professionals spreading dangerous COVID-19 disinformation and prescribing unproven coronavirus treatments. They are increasingly meeting resistance from conservative lawmakers. “Physicians who generate and spread COVID-19 vaccine misinformation or disinformation are risking disciplinary action by state medical boards, including the suspension […]

Iowa House Advances Bill with Hard Noneconomic Damage Cap The Labor Committee of the Iowa House of Representatives advanced legislation recently intended to combat the state’s worker shortage by reforming unemployment and tort laws. The bill is divided into two sections: one relates to unemployment insurance and the other would create a $1 million hard […]

The Florida Supreme Court approved earlier this year an amendment to the state’s rule of appellate procedure, a change that opponents say could block punitive damages in liability lawsuits. In a 6-1 decision, the justices adopted a rule change that permits a party to seek immediate appellate review of an order granting or denying a […]

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled her 2022-2023 Executive Budget in late 2021, which includes a more than $10 billion, multi-year investment in the state’s healthcare system. It also contains two proposals that would affect the medical liability community. The governor’s budget proposal would fund healthcare initiatives aimed at modernizing the state’s emergency medical services, […]

The American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRF) issued its 2021/2022 Judicial Hellholes report late last year in December. The annual release documents abuses of the civil justice system in jurisdictions the pro-tort reform group says are among the most unfair and out of balance in the nation. The ATRF is a branch of the American Tort […]

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed House Bill 11 late last year after a special legislative session that addressed ambiguities in the state’s recently overhauled Medical Malpractice Act (MMA). The last-minute fix averted a New Mexico medical liability insurance crisis that threatened to force some independent physicians and medical practices to stop seeing patients […]

A California hospitalist who had his hospital privileges rescinded in 2015 for alleged substandard performance and inadequate record-keeping filed a civil action last month asking a federal court to reinstate those privileges. The action alleges a lack of due process during medical disciplinary hearings violates the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. In the case […]