Malpractice Fund Causes PA Doctors and Hospitals to Sue

Staff Writter, Dec 23, 2008

It doesn’t come as a surprise when you hear of a medical malpractice suit that involves some wrongdoing on the part of a doctor or hospital. Many times, doctors and hospitals become consumed in long, difficult medical malpractice suits that cost medical professionals and hospitals millions of dollars.

What comes as a recent surprise for some is the complete opposite. Pennsylvania doctors and hospitals have come together to file a suit against the state in an effort to obtain millions of dollars.  MCare contains an unspecified amount between $446 million and $616 million that Pennsylvania doctors and hospitals are petitioning the courts to receive to help offset malpractice costs. The Commonwealth Court by the Hospital & Healthsystem Association of Pennsylvania as well as the Pennsylvania Medical Society receive lawsuits recently due to a stalemate.

State politicians want to start a $500 million MCare expansion program to provide a state-sponsored health insurance programs for those Pennsylvanians who do not have insurance. Doctors and hospitals disagree, citing that the fund is a result of unpaid reimbursements due to doctors and hospitals and believe the fund should be devoted to helping pay for medical malpractice insurance.

Those in favor of providing the fund to doctors and hospitals believe that practitioners who provide high-risk services such as gynecology, believe that paying the fund into a medical malpractice insurance subsidy benefits Pennsylvania’s ability to recruit and retain quality service providers. The suing doctors and hospitals groups fear that turning the money over to the state could result in the money being used for the wrong reasons or wasted.

Those who are in favor of providing the fund to the state believe that the number of uninsured residents in Pennsylvania could be reduced and that the $500 million could fill a hole in the coming year’s budget. Further, state advocates believe that the doctors and hospitals seem to be going against their own grain by filing a suit that is as frivolous as those they fight against regarding medical malpractice.

There are those who believe that the mere fact that MCare has such a large fund gives indication that medical malpractice claims are going down and that the need for a medical malpractice fund to offset costs is not justified or necessary.