AMA SURVEY SHOWS PATIENTS LOSING ACCESS TO CARE
America's medical liability crisis causing physicians to limit their practices

CHICAGO-America's medical liability crisis has caused nearly two-thirds of high-risk specialists to make changes to their practice, including stopping providing certain services and referring complex cases, according to a new American Medical Association survey. The survey analysis looked at the differences between high and low-risk specialties as well as crisis versus non-crisis states.

More than 30 state and national medical specialty societies took part in conducting the survey, which included responses from more than 4,800 physicians nationwide. The high-risk specialties include emergency medicine, general surgery, neurosurgery, obstetrics/gynecology, orthopedic surgery and thoracic surgery.

The crisis states identified in an AMA analysis released last month are Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas, Washington and West Virginia.

"What will it take for our elected leaders to realize that patients-and the communities in which they live-are losing access to the physicians who save lives?" asked AMA President Yank D. Coble Jr., MD. "These new data deliver hard numbers to a shocking reality-America's broken medical liability system is having disastrous effects on patients and their physicians."

Top line survey findings include:

• 64.8 percent of America's high-risk specialists have made changes to their practice, including no longer providing certain services, referring complex cases, closing their practice, and more.

• 24.2 percent of high-risk specialists stopped providing certain services, including emergency and trauma care and delivering babies; 92.4 percent of high-risk specialists said that liability pressures were important in their decision to stop providing certain services.

• 41.5 percent of high-risk specialists began referring complex cases; 34 percent of physicians surveyed in AMA crisis states began referring complex cases compared to 24 percent in non-crisis states.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation last month-the HEALTH Act of 2003-that Dr. Coble said would go a long way toward helping America's patients and physicians.

"Before you can heal the patient, first you have to stop the hemorrhaging," said Dr. Coble. "We strongly urge the Senate to pass common-sense medical liability reform legislation that will preserve patients' access to care. The AMA will continue to work with patients, physicians and lawmakers at the grassroots and national levels to pass medical liability reforms until this crisis ceases to exist."

For more information, please contact:
Daniel Blaney-Koen
Field Communications Manager
(312) 464-4415

Note: The AMA encourages reporters and others interested in state and specialty-specific information to contact those societies directly.