Physician burnout impacts every aspect of healthcare delivery — quality, safety, cost and human resource. And physician burnout is on the rise — with almost 55 percent (up from 45 percent in 2011, according to one study) of all doctors currently reporting diminished professional satisfaction and an increase in emotional exhaustion. The term “physician burnout […]

Watch Episode 1 here. Our new Healthcare Matters series will take a deep dive into the financials of the medical malpractice insurance industry for each financial quarter. Episode 1 takes a look at the second quarter of 2018. Discussing the financials of Q2 of 2018 is Eric Wunder, a consulting actuarial at Milliman Inc. Mr. […]

MLMIC Insurance Co. announced last month the completion of its conversion from a property-and-casualty mutual insurance company to a property-and-casualty stock insurance company and the finalization of its $2.5 billion acquisition by National Indemnity Co., a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc. The conversion and acquisition followed a September 6 approval by the Superintendent of the […]

There is an interesting article in the New York Times titled A Sense of Alarm as Rural Hospitals Keep Closing that looks at a growing trend happening in the hospital space.  Rural hospitals are closing their doors and this is affecting Americans all over the country.  Some of the eye-opening facts in the article: Since […]

The family of Prince has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against a doctor in which the family feels he failed Price by failing to treat his opioid addiction and providing him with narcotics without a proper prescription. The Minnesota lawsuit also names the physician’s former employer, North Memorial Health, Walgreens and UnityPoint Health as defendants.  […]

In June, Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Jose Rodriguez denied a defense motion to reduce a jury verdict for noneconomic damages from $500,000 to $350,000 because the defense offered to arbitrate the claim, further chipping away at Florida’s tort reform laws that cap noneconomic damages in medical professional liability actions. In 2014, the Florida Supreme Court […]

On June 27, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled that the state’s $750,000 cap on noneconomic medical liability damages is constitutional. “Today’s Court decision preserves Wisconsin’s balanced medical liability system that has been instrumental in attracting physicians to communities across Wisconsin, while providing assurance to injured patients that they will receive payment for the full amount […]

Hosted at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Orlando, Fla., the 2018 PIAA Medical Liability Conference assembled the various members of the medical professional liability industry from May 16 – 18 for three days of educational sessions, networking and meetings. “You are here because the work we all do is critical to the practice of medicine,” […]

The Second Judicial District Court in Albuquerque recently struck down a New Mexico law that caps damages in medical professional liability lawsuits at $600,000. The cap does not apply to medical expenses, but does cover compensation for things like lost wages and noneconomic, pain-and-suffering damages. Judge Victor Lopez ruled that the New Mexico Medical Malpractice […]