WHEELING - Wheeling internist Dr. John Holloway said if President Barack Obama needs an example for malpractice reform, he should look to West Virginia.
Skyrocketing malpractice insurance rates reached a tipping point for West Virginia doctors, leading to surgeons staging a walkout of sorts in 2003. To make their point, folding metals chairs were lined up on an amphitheater stage at Oglebay Park, occupied only by white lab coats.
The demonstration jumpstarted what Holloway described as a bipartisan effort leading to reform of the state's malpractice laws. Five years after the reform law was passed by the state Legislature, Holloway estimated malpractice insurance rates have decreased by 50 percent.
"If the president wants a role model in dealing with reform, West Virginia is a great role model," Holloway said. "Doctors and lawyers worked together on it. The effort was overwhelmingly positive in West Virginia. ... It stabilized the insurance market, attracting physicians that would not otherwise be here."
Obama's budget calls for $250 million in Justice Department grants to help states rewrite their malpractice laws in line with recommendations that his bipartisan debt reduction commission issued last year. Specific reforms the money could be used for exclude caps on jury awards that the American Medical Association and GOP lawmakers have pursued for years without success. But they do include measures unacceptable to trial lawyers, an interest group that contributes heavily to Democratic candidates.
Topping the list of ideas in an Obama administration summary of the proposal are health courts. Specially trained judges - not juries - would decide malpractice cases, awarding compensation from a set schedule. Plaintiffs' lawyers say that would undermine the constitutional right to trial by jury. But proponents say it would bring predictability, resulting in lower malpractice insurance rates for doctors.
"Health courts offer much more protection for fearful physicians than caps because you are unlikely to get a crazy verdict when you have an expert judge," said lawyer Philip Howard, founder of Common Good, a nonprofit group that advocates for changes in the legal system. The money Obama seeks could go far, he added, estimating it would cost $5 million to $7 million for a midsize state to set up health courts.
Speaking for trial lawyers, Gibson Vance, president of the American Association for Justice, called the idea "bad policy and bad for patients."
Obama's proposal also got a cool reception Tuesday from congressional Republicans, who feel he has a record of promising more on malpractice than he delivers. Obama first indicated an interest in the issue during the marathon debate over his health care law.
But all that actually wound up in the law was $25 million in grants to study the problem and potential solutions.
It's different this time, administration officials said. The new proposal calls for 10 times more money, and the grants would be used to change laws, not conduct more studies. Nonetheless, House Republicans are moving ahead with legislation to impose caps on jury awards.
The cost of defensive medicine is difficult to estimate, but conservative estimates start at around $50 billion a year. Obama's debt commission estimated its recommendations could save government programs $17 billion through 2020, calling for an aggressive effort to rewrite malpractice laws. Obama's budget, however, does not claim any savings from the new proposal.
Other malpractice reforms that could be funded under Obama's grant proposal include: