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Professional Liability Insurance Reform

Proposition 12 Produces Healthy Benefits
A Recap: Five Years After Its Passage

Physicians' liability insurance premiums have continued to drop since the passage of Proposition 12 and the state's landmark 2003 health care liability reforms. All major physician liability carriers in Texas have cut their rates since the passage of the reforms, most by double-digits. Texas physicians have seen their liability rates cut, on average, 27 percent. Roughly half of Texas doctors have seen their rates slashed a quarter or more. Cumulative liability cost savings since January 2004: $322.94 million. Texas has added new admitted, rate-regulated carriers, more risk retention groups, captives, surplus lines and other unregulated insurers. Meanwhile, lawsuit filings in most Texas counties have been cut in half since the passage of the 2003 reforms and access to health care has improved. More...

Help Protect Tort Reform

We held them off last year, but trial lawyers and others are lining up again to attack TMA's hard-won 2003 tort reforms in the next session of the Texas Legislature. They claim the reforms aren't necessary, don't work, and are bad for Texas.

But we know they do work, and you and your patients are better off because the legislature passed the reforms and voters approved them. That's where you come in.

We need more ammunition to fire back at our critics. We need your stories. Tell us about new physicians the reforms have drawn to Texas and how they've made a difference in your community. Tell us how your patients have benefited. Your information will help TMA and our allies mount a strong defense.

Texas Physician Growth Since Tort Reform

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Health & Medicine Research tort reform physicians

Texas Physicians Sue to Protect Liability Reforms

TMA has gone to court to protect the historic and hard-won tort reforms the Texas Legislature passed in 2003 and to make sure patients continue to have better access to medical care. TMA joined Corpus Christi orthopedic surgeon John McKeever, MD, the Texas Alliance for Patient Access (TAPA), and the Texas Hospital Association to resolve several constitutional challenges to the centerpiece of the reforms: the cap on noneconomic damages – such as for pain and suffering – that may be awarded in a medical liability case. Read the full story.

Patrick: Tort Reform "Only Viable Hypothesis"

Texas Medical Board Executive Director Donald W. Patrick, MD, JD, explores the possible reasons behind the huge increase in applications for Texas medical licenses in 2006. His conclusion: Tort reform as enacted appears to be working as envisioned by the Texas Legislature. Read Dr. Patrick's article.

PowerPoint Presentation: The Texas Tort Reform Story

Want to share the secrets of our Proposition 12 and tort reform legislation victories? Download this new PowerPoint presentation for use in speaking to physician groups. (Updated March 24, 2008.)

Professional Liablity Insurance Issues in the 2007 Texas Legislature

• Professional Liability Reform Legislative Brief
• Proposition 12: Tort Reform Makes Good Medicine (Texas Medicine, January 2006)

Proposition 12: A Victory for Physicians and Patients

• Prop 12 Payoff: Tort Reform Saves Medical Practices (Texas Medicine, September 2007) 
• Chronology of Rate Cuts By Texas Medical Professional Liability Carriers  (January 2009)
• Texas Liability Insurance Rates Dropping After Proposition 12 (TMLT rates)
• Proposition 12: A Victory for Texas Patients and their Physicians
• Texans Vote "Yes On 12"

Resources

• Medical Liability Reform Works (Dr. Saracino Profile) (YouTube video, November 2008)
• In Defense of Medicine: Physicians Counter Legal, Legislative Attacks on Tort Reform (Texas Medicine, August 2008) 
• Medical Liability Reform, a conversation with Melissa Garretson, MD, and David Teuscher, MD, about the successes of medical liability reforms in Texas, and the challenges to those reforms (Aug. 1, 2008)
• Why Doctors Are Heading for Texas (Wall Street Journal Report, May 17, 2008)
• Tort Reform Under Attack: Ex-Cowboy's Wife Challenges 2003 Reforms (Texas Medicine, March 2008) 
• Texas Tort Reform Success Story (On the right hand side is the library menu for Center for Health Transformation, scroll down to Health Justice and click on the third bullet to listen to the 22 minute video.)
• TMA Statement Regarding TMLT Premium Rate Decrease (Sept. 17, 2005)
• Survey: Personal Injury Lawyers Ads Scare Patients Into Court (Oct. 4, 2005)
• AMA Medical Liability Reform Physician Action Kit  (April 25, 2003)
• America's Medical Liability Crisis: A National View (May 2004)
• California Medical Association's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act Resource Center (May 1, 2003)
• Civil Justice Reform: Medical Professional Liability: Key Provisions of House Bill 4 and House Joint Resolution 3 of the 78th Texas Legislature – 2003 (June 17, 2003)
• Nationwide Review Supports $250,000 Hard Cap on Noneconomic Damages in Lawsuits Against Texas Health Care Providers
• Professional Liability Insurers
• Recent Entries/Applicants –Physicians and Other Medical Professional Liability Insurance (cumulative since May 2003) (September 2004)
• Summary of Texas Medical Professional Liability Law
• Texas Alliance for Patient Access (TAPA)
• Improving Access to Care:Dramatic Gains in Access to Care (TAPA)
• Bills We Oppose (TAPA)
• Texas Legislative Reforms (TAPA)

Links

• The American Academy of Pediatrics and Medical Liability
• American Healthcare Indemnity Company
• GE Medical Protective – Employers Reinsurance Corp.
• Lawsuit Abuse Makes Us Sick – Information about lawsuit abuse in the health care industry
• The National Perspective on Medical Liability Insurance (AMNews, Jan. 7, 2002)
• Texas Medical Liability Trust

Last Published: 9/25/2009