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Wednesday, January 01, 2003The first aspect of the plan is to reduce 2003 MCARE premiums. MCARE, or Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error Act, was passed earlier this year. Rendell estimated that doctors will see at least a 30 percent reduction in their total insurance premium. The MCARE relief, estimated to cost about $220 million, will be funded through a one-time emergency assessment on surpluses held by all companies writing health insurance in Pennsylvania. Rendell said he will also support the reintroduction of legislation that would compensate trauma centers for the higher costs of trauma care. Two eastern Pennsylvania trauma centers -- at Abington Hospital in Montgomery County and at the Community Medical Center in Scranton -- closed recently because they lost their staff neurosurgeons, a requirement for certification. The trauma center legislation would cost between $18 million and $22 million, Rendell said. Reimbursement rates to doctors from insurance carriers should be increased, Rendell said. That, along with expected increased in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, will aid physicians' financial situations, he said. [Medicare payments are slated to decrease in 2003, not increase -ed.] The last element of Rendell's plan is a new court rule that will be recommended to the state Supreme Court in early 2003. The rule would require every malpractice suit to have a certificate of merit. Tort reform experts predict such a rule could reduce the number of malpractice claims by more than 25 percent. And it isn’t just the surgeons who are having problems: In a further worsening of the insurance crisis, many insurance companies are no longer writing medical malpractice policies and will cease coverage beginning Jan. 1, Rovito said. About 60 percent of the state's 35,000 doctors will be without coverage as of Wednesday, Rovito said. Those physicians are either not taking new patients, not performing high-risk procedures or simply closing their practices, said Chuck Moran, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Medical Society. "Doctors are really being caught between what their ethics tell them to do and what the law requires them to do," Moran said. State law requires doctors to have $1 million in malpractice insurance in order to be licensed to practice in Pennsylvania. Meanwhile, the work stoppage is still a go: Scranton neurosurgeon Shripathi Holla said he will not work the first week of January, a move that would temporarily close Community Medical Center's trauma center. Another Scranton surgeon said he'll temporarily stop work in protest of rising medical malpractice premiums, but he has no intention of closing his practice. "I think it's foolish for people to say we're going to close if they truly do not mean it," said Dr. William Auriemma, a colorectal specialist. "There should be no idle threats." posted by Sydney on 1/01/2003 10:21:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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