Capitol Hill Briefing Links Evidence-Based Medicine with Common-Sense Medical Liability Protections

Healthcare experts today, in a Capitol Hill briefing hosted by the Healthcare Leadership Council, said that adherence to evidence-based medicine will improve healthcare quality and lower health system costs, and that policymakers should utilize medical liability ‘safe harbor’ protections as an incentive for physicians to use clinical guidelines and health information technology.

U.S. Representative Ami Bera (D-CA), himself an experienced physician, said that the current medical liability system encourages physicians to order expensive tests or procedures, even if not justified by clinical evidence, in order to protect themselves against lawsuits. He said that, if physicians practice to a standard of care supported by research and evidence, they should have protections against liability.

Maura Calsyn, director of health policy for the Center for American Progress, said her organization supports the liability ‘safe harbor’ concept – in which physician would have liability protections when using clinical practice guidelines – because it would encourage doctors to adhere to evidence-based medicine while still enabling patients to prove negligence if a practitioner departed from clinical guidelines. Diane Horvath-Cosper, M.D., representing the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said the ob-gyn field has the highest liability insurance costs in the medical profession and, thus, the liability climate is leading to workforce shortages. She emphasized that physicians providing quality, evidence-based care must receive protection against unwarranted lawsuits.

HLC President Mary R. Grealy said a move toward ‘safe harbors’ liability protections makes sense for a number of reasons: One, we have an unprecedented ability to aggregate and analyze data, enabling an evidence-based practice of medicine; two, physicians are spending an average of 51 months of their medical careers with lawsuits hanging over their heads; and, finally, the health system’s transition from volume-based to value-based care necessitates steps to reduce the practice of defensive medicine.

For more information on the briefing or materials, please contact Teresa de Vries at tdevries@hlc.org.