Baicker Katherine, Fisher Elliott S, Chandra Amitabh
School of Public Affairs, University of California, Los Angeles, USA.
Health Aff (Millwood). 2007 May-Jun;26(3):841-52. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.26.3.841.
Mounting malpractice liability costs might affect physician practice patterns in many ways, such as increasing the use of diagnostic procedures while reducing major surgeries. This paper quantifies the association between malpractice liability costs and the use of physician services in Medicare. We find that higher malpractice awards and premiums are associated with higher Medicare spending, especially for imaging services that are often believed to be driven by physicians' fears of malpractice. The 60 percent increase in malpractice premiums between 2000 and 2003 is associated with an increase in total Medicare spending of more than $15 billion.
不断攀升的医疗事故责任成本可能会在许多方面影响医生的执业模式，比如增加诊断程序的使用，同时减少大型手术。本文对医疗事故责任成本与医疗保险中医生服务使用之间的关联进行了量化。我们发现，更高的医疗事故赔偿金和保费与更高的医疗保险支出相关，尤其是对于那些通常被认为是由医生对医疗事故的担忧所驱动的影像服务。2000年至2003年间医疗事故保费增长60%，这与医疗保险总支出增加超过150亿美元相关。
