est data on the impact of Texas’ 2003 medical liability reforms. (See “Good for Patients, Good for Doctors,” September 2011 Texas Medicine, pages 12–18.) According to data released by the
Texas Alliance for Patient Access (TAPA), the number of liability claims and law- suits in most Texas counties dropped 50 percent since the passage of the 2003 law.
Meanwhile, Texas has licensed
24,584 new physicians during that time. Fourteen counties that did not have an obstetrician now have one, 40 counties have gained emergency medicine phy- sicians, 16 counties now have a cardi- ologist, eight counties have picked up orthopedic surgeons, 24 gained at least one general surgeon, and six have added their first neurosurgeon. Many of those counties are in rural
areas. Texas physicians also have seen their
medical liability premiums decrease by 46.24 percent, or $1.55 billion, and com-
petition in the medical liability market has increased. In a letter to the New York Times pub-
lished in September, TAPA Executive Di- rector Jon Opelt said the most current data available from the Department of Health and Human Services ranks Texas 10th nationally in percentage growth of patient-care physicians (2003 to 2008), up from 23rd just five years earlier. “The accelerated growth of new doc-
tors, in-state active doctors, high-risk specialists, and doctors who provide direct patient care per capita all exceed pre-reform levels,” he wrote. Texas Medical Association President C. Bruce Malone, MD, says the numbers speak for themselves. “The fact is we have more doctors,
and we’re growing with our population instead of not keeping up with the popu- lation,” he said. “But the thing that’s really important
is that we’ve taken millions of dollars from hospitals’ liability premiums and
doctors’ liability premiums and convert- ed them for use for equipment, patient safety, and increasing the quality of our facilities,” Dr. Malone added. “Where we were wasting money in the system we’re now putting it to better use.” The Texas Medical Liability Trust
(TMLT) recently announced it is cutting its liability insurance premiums for the ninth consecutive year since the pas- sage of the 2003 reforms. This time, the TMLT Board of Governors approved an average 6.9-percent cut in liability pre- miums and an 18.5-percent dividend for renewing policyholders. The cut is effective Jan. 1. n
Ken Ortolon is senior editor of Texas Medicine. You can reach him by telephone at (800) 880-1300, ext. 1392, or (512) 370-1392; by fax at (512) 370-1629; or by email at
ken.ortolon@texmed.org.
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