It should come as no surprise that Valley hospitals, insurance providers and large employers have all been pretty busy complying with the ever-changing Affordable Care Act provisions. Medical providers are transitioning to fully digital records, training their staff and attempting to counter an anticipated shortage in doctors, nurses and specialty technicians. In addition, compliance is expensive. The expenses at this time are similar to startup costs – baseline changes to operations, infrastructure and staffing to prepare for the influx in new patients. The projection is that costs will eventually flat line and begin to decrease. But for now, medical providers are trying their best to keep premiums from increasing as the demand and patient base skyrockets. Despite this hectic time in the health care realm, trial lawyers are trying to wedge in a state ballot measure that would quadruple lawsuit costs for medical providers – inevitably making health care more expensive for employers and patients across California. In 1975, the state Legislature enacted the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), which caps “non-economic” damages from an injury sustained while receiving health care – often referred to as pain and suffering – at $250,000 per case. There is no cap on economic damages, which are funds to compensate for the monetary costs of an injury, such as medical bills or loss of income. Health care providers pay for the costs of medical malpractice claims in various ways. Many providers purchase medical malpractice insurance, while others directly pay for the costs associated with medical malpractice claims against the provider. Either way, this is a huge overhead cost that affects the costs of premiums and care. But now, the signatures have been gathered for a state ballot measure that would raise the non-economic cap fourfold to approximately $1.1 million. The ballot measure hides this provision behind a generally agreeable requirement for random drug testing on physicians who are hospital employees or contractors, or who have the authority to admit patients to the hospital. But the main goal of the measure’s sponsors is to heavily increase the amount that attorneys can earn in a malpractice suit. Under MICRA, economic damages to patients have actually gone up at more than twice the rate of inflation, leaving only the attorneys salivating for more. If this measure passes, attorneys could collect three times more in legal fees than they can today on non-economic damages, giving them an incentive to take on non-meritorious cases to reap more in legal costs. Meritless lawsuits waste precious health care resources, result in increased health care costs for patients and expanded operating costs for doctors, hospitals and community clinics, forcing many to cut back services or close altogether. As our Valley’s population grows, we need to expand our health care services, not jeopardize them with extremely costly lawsuits that benefit consumer attorneys. The Valley Industry and Commerce Association has joined the hundreds of organizations in opposition to this measure, and we urge you to join us in ensuring this measure does not pass. There is no way to quantify the non-economic consequences of medical malpractice. But there is a line between reasonable and excessive. This measure leaps across that line, filling the pockets of consumer attorneys at the expense of the employers and patients that have to foot the bill. The Valley Industry and Commerce Association (VICA) is a business advocacy organization based in Sherman Oaks that represents employers throughout the Los Angeles County region at the local, state and federal levels of government. – How to reach us Guest Opinions: Op-ed pieces must be 700 to 800 words and on topics about the San Fernando Valley business community. Please submit op-ed ideas to [email protected].
