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Unnecessary Procedures
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“Physicians who continue practicing have adjusted their
behavior to minimize risk. Nearly 80% of doctors say they
order unnecessary tests and 74% say they make unnecessary
referrals to specialists. The price tag: an estimated $60
billion to $108 billion a year in unnecessary health-care
costs.” (KRC:
Manhattan Institute,
Trial Lawyers, Inc., p. 13 citing HHS Report, "Confronting
...")
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In a survey of medical professionals, physicians reported
that because of liability concerns:
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79 percent have ordered more tests than are medically
necessary;
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74 percent have referred patients to specialists more
often than they believed was medically necessary;
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51 percent have recommended invasive procedures such as
biopsies to confirm diagnosis more often than they
believed was medically necessary; and,
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41 percent reported prescribing more medications than
they would have ordered based only on their professional
judgment. (KRC:
HHS Report, "Confronting ...", pgs. 4-5)
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In a survey conducted by independent researchers of 824
Pennsylvania doctors with high liability specialties to
determine whether concerns about the cost and availability
of liability insurance influenced how they practice
medicine, more than 92% reported that they engage in
defensive medicine, which may include the avoidance of
certain procedures and patients, referring patients to
doctors for additional consultations, or ordering
unnecessary tests or procedures.
(Journal of American Medicine, Vol. 293, No. 21, June 1,
2005)
Quality of Care
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“Excessive litigation is impeding efforts to improve
quality of care. Hospitals and doctors are reluctant to
report problems and participate in joint efforts to
improve care because they fear being dragged into
lawsuits, even if they did nothing wrong”. (KRC:
HHS Report, "Confronting ...",
p. 1)
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“Physicians’ understandable fear of unwarranted
litigation threatens patient safety in another way. It
impedes efforts of physicians and researchers to improve
the quality of care. As medical care becomes
increasingly complex, there are many opportunities for
improving the quality and safety of medical care, and
reducing its costs, through better medical practices.
According to some experts, these quality improvement
opportunities hold the promise of not only significant
improvements in patient health outcomes, but also
reductions in medical costs of as much as 30%”. (KRC:
HHS Report, "Confronting ...", p. 5)
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“According to many experts, the “#1 barrier” to more
effective quality improvement systems in health care
organizations is fear of creating new avenues of
liability by conducting earnest analyses of how health
care can be improved. Without protection, quality
discussions to improve health care provide fodder for
litigants to find ways to assert that the status quo is
deficient. Doctors are busy, and they face many
pressures. They will be reluctant to engage in health
care improvement efforts if they think that reports they
make and recommendations they make will be thrown back
at them or others in litigation. Quality improvement
efforts must be protected if we are to obtain the full
benefit of doctors’ experience in improving the quality
of health care”.
(KRC:
HHS Report, "Confronting ...", p. 6)
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