Future of liability insurance rates for OBGYN

[Teufelhunden]

I was talking to one of the OB residents, and he was thinking that all this mess will work itself out in the next 7-10 years, and that OBGYN will see a resurgence in popularity.

I figure the pendulum has to swing back towards sanity at some point. With enough OBs leaving the "bad" states (OH, WV, PA, FL, etc), there will soon be some serious access-to-care issues which should generate considerable pressure on the state legislators to take action.

Now, I don't know what this action will be. Could be a "loser pays" system, maybe caps, maybe a separate medical court (at least for screening cases). Again, I can't guess as to what the solutions will be. But, when enough patients are inconvenienced by having to drive 2 hours for OB care....or God forbid some bad outcomes...there will eventually be enough pressure on the state legislators that SOMETHING will have to be done.

People ain't gonna stop having babies. And with the exception of a few whackjobs on this forum, MOST people will want OB care for their pregnancies.

With that said, it seems pretty evident that this problem will be at least partially solved in a few years. Physician-unfriendly states can't afford to keep losing OBs (and other docs w/ high PLI rates) to neighboring states w/ more sensible laws.

I'm curious to hear people's thoughts on this.

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[neilc]

this is something that i have also been saying...everything is cyclical. right now, we are in a trough, and i would bet there would be a huge upswing in the future. look at anesthesia for a recent example. a few years back, you couldnt give the residency positions away. reimbursements were down, CNA's were taking over, whatever. now look at the bastards! still rich, and a tough residency to get.

all problems get solved. either the problem will eliminate the profession (not likely) or it will have to get dealt with...the other option is to not change at all, which is not a reality. nothing is static, right?

 

[Global Disrobal]

Great thread!

The issue involves many sub-plots that will need to be dealt with inorder for the matter to be resolved. For exampel, aside from the cost of litigation itself, is the statue of limitations (18 years in many states, 21 years in some others), the tail coverage premiums (i.e. 110K for avg attending with good record after 10 years in practice in DC).

Anyhow, I have heard of the "pendulum" theory and hope that it holds true, but I guess time will only tell.

 

[neurogeek]

I agree. That's one of the reasons I haven't really hesitated about my choice of OB/GYN. Things can only deteriorate to a point before they're going to have to be fixed. I just hope that we don't have to wait too long.