Healthcare Leadership Council Endorses Bipartisan Legislation Creating Common Sense, Patient-Centered Medical Liability Reforms
Saving Lives, Saving Costs Act, Introduced by Reps. Andy Barr (R-KY), Ami Bera (D-CA) Would Provide Liability Protections to Physicians Using Evidence-Based Guidelines
WASHINGTON — The Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC), a coalition of the nation’s leading healthcare companies and organizations, today endorsed bipartisan legislation introduced by U.S. Representatives Andy Barr (R-KY) and Ami Bera (D-CA) that would improve patient health and reform the nation’s medical liability system by providing increased liability protection to physicians who utilize evidence-based medical practice guidelines.
The Saving Lives, Saving Costs Act will replace the current flawed medical liability system that encourages physicians to practice defensive medicine, increasing health system costs through unnecessary tests and procedures, with a system that incentivizes uniformly high-quality care for all patients.
“We applaud Representatives Barr and Bera for bridging the partisan divide on an issue that has remained locked in political conflict for far too long,” said HLC President Mary R. Grealy. “By providing safe harbors against litigation for those doctors that adhere to the highest and widely-accepted practice standards, this bill is in patients’ best interests and will make the healthcare system more quality-driven and cost-effective.”
Ms. Grealy said statistics show that the vast majority of physicians will be sued at some point in their careers, but only one in every five of these suits results in an award for the plaintiff. The Saving Lives, Saving Costs Act, she said, will still protect those patients who have a legitimate malpractice complaint, but remove the incentives to file lawsuits without merit against physicians who have practiced appropriately.
“This legislation is an important step in advancing an era in which health care is shaped by best practices, defined by data on how to achieve optimum patient outcomes. Today, too many physicians practice to avoid litigation. Representatives Barr and Bera have offered a solution that will encourage healthcare that delivers the most effective, most appropriate patient care,” she said.
It is very promising, she added, that this legislation has been developed by Representative Bera, a physician, and Representative Barr, an attorney.
“For too long, Democrats and Republicans, the medical associations and the trial bar, have been at loggerheads on this issue. We now have a solution at hand that protects patients while improving the healthcare system,” she said.
The Healthcare Leadership Council is a coalition of chief executives of the nation’s leading healthcare companies and organizations. Follow us on Twitter at @HealthInFocus.
