Government

CMS chief says liability reform would help Medicare

NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted May 16, 2005

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Capping noneconomic damages in medical liability suits would help control rapidly rising Medicare outpatient spending, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mark McClellan, MD, PhD, told a congressional hearing last month.

"As we work on solutions to the physician payment problem, we can no longer afford to pass by opportunities where there is overwhelming evidence of billions of dollars in cost savings," Dr. McClellan told the Joint Economic Committee.

Federal officials surmise that an increase in physician services costs in Medicare last year are due in part to the practice of defensive medicine.

The Bush administration and the AMA support legislation that would attempt to address this issue by limiting the amount a jury could award a plaintiff for noneconomic damages stemming from a medical injury.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2005/05/16/gvbf0516.htm.

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