ATLA Press Room : Health Care : Research

Drug Safety
Protections for drug companies often lurk within medical malpractice legislation.

Insurance Reform
Efforts to limit patients' rights are part of an insurance industry campaign to scapegoat victims for price-gouging.

Limiting Patients' Rights Won't Reduce Insurance Rates

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Health Care Research

Falling Claims and Rising Premiums in the Malpractice Insurance Industry

July 7— Researchers found that in the past five years premiums have more than doubled, while claims payments have been stable. In fact, in 2004, malpractice insurers' total premiums were three times higher than their total payouts. Between 2000 and 2004, insurers' net premiums increased by 120%, while net claims payments increased by less than 6%. Read more.

Despite National Call to Action, Preventable Errors Still Causing Deaths

June 1— Five years after the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its seminal report, To Err is Human, which concluded up to 98,000 Americans died each year from medical errors, the medical community has made little progress in reducing the risk to patients who use the healthcare system. Read more.

Medical Malpractice Premiums Are Less Than 1% of Health Care Costs

February 1— The Congressional Budget Office and now the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services conclude that malpractice insurance premiums are not responsible for rising health costs. View chart

Americans Want Public Reporting of Serious Medical Errors

November 2004— According to a survey from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and the Harvard School of Public Health:

The vast majority (92%) of the public believe that reporting serious medical errors should be mandatory.

88% believe doctors should be required to tell patients if a preventable medical error resulting in serious harm is made in their own care.

63% believe that such mandatory reporting of serious medical errors should be released to the public. Read more. Read more.

HealthGrades: 195,000 Lives Lost Each Year to Medical Errors

August 2004— The HealthGrades Patient Safety in American Hospitals found that 1.14 million patient-safety incidents occurred from 2000-2002 and that 1 in 4 patients who experienced a patient-safety incident died. Read more.