Medical Liability: Impact on Hospital and Physician Costs Extends Beyond Insurance

United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office Accounting and Information Management Division author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 1995-09-29 monographic deposited born digital 31 p. GA 1.13:AIMD-95-169 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-169 P0b002ee18039e720 f:ai95169 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-23 GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-169 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-169 AIMD-95-169 Liability (legal) Health care costs Insurance premiums Physicians Hospitals Liability insurance Medical equipment Pharmaceutical industry Malpractice (medical) Insurance cost control Letter Report AIMD Medical Liability: Impact on Hospital and Physician Costs Extends Beyond Insurance As Congress considers proposals to reduce to tort liability in the health care industry, little consensus exists on the extent to which medical liability-related spending boosts hospital and physician expenditures, a central issue in the debate over health care reform. GAO found that hospitals and physicians incur a variety of medical liability costs. Studies attempting to measure such costs have focused on the cost of purchased malpractice insurance, which is readily quantifiable because of state reporting requirements. Other hospital and physician liability costs, however, are impractical and methodologically difficult to measure with any precision. Such costs include defensive medicine, liability-related administrative expenses, and medical device and drug company's liability expenses that are passed on to hospitals and doctors in the price of products. However, a broader understanding of such costs and their implications is useful to the ongoing medical liability reform debate. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-169/html/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-169.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-169/pdf/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-169.pdf GAO/AIMD-95-169 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-AIMD-95-169 Letter Report GAO/AIMD-95-169; Medical Liability: Impact on Hospital and Physician Costs Extends Beyond Insurance; Liability (legal) Health care costs Insurance premiums Physicians Hospitals Liability insurance Medical equipment Pharmaceutical industry Malpractice (medical) Insurance cost control