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Physician Response to Liability Concerns and Insurance Costs
The American Medical Association (AMA) surveyed 4,846 physicians nationwide to determine what changes, if any, they've made in their practices to reduce malpractice insurance costs. Following are the survey findings:
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Made any practice change | Closed practice | Stopped certain services |
| All physicians | 58.5% | 4.9% | 19.4% |
| High-risk specialists* | 64.8% | 6.1% | 24.2% |
| Low-risk specialists | 56.8% | 4.6% | 18.1% |
| In crisis states** | 61.4% | 5.4% | 21.6% |
| In noncrisis states | 54.0% | 4.1% | 15.9% |
*High-risk specialties include emergency medicine, neurosurgery, obstetrics-gynecology, general surgery and orthopedic surgery. **Crisis states are those designated by the AMA as the hardest hit by liability premium increases. They include Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and West Virginia. |
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Another nationwide survey focusing on liability concerns, this one involving 300 physicians and conducted by Harris Interactive, found that because of fear of liability:
79% of respondents said they order more tests than are medically needed
74% said they refer patients more than they would if decisions were based only on their professional judgment
51% suggest invasive procedures such as biopsies more often than they would if decisions were based only on their professional judgment
43% said they have considered leaving medicine because of the malpractice liability system
41% prescribe medications more often than they believe is medically needed.
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