A recent study found when physicians spent more money on patients, their risk of malpractice lawsuits fell, according to Daily Star Albany.
Researchers analyzed more than 4,300 malpractice lawsuits and evaluated seven specialties including:
• Internal medicine
• Internal medicine subspecialty
• Family medicine
• Pediatrics
• General surgery
• General surgery subspecialty
• Obstetrics and gynecology
Here are six things to know:
1. Researchers found an overall malpractice rate of 2.8 percent per physician per year.
2. Internal medicine physicians who fell in the bottom 20 percent of hospital spending had a 1.5 percent chance of being involved in an alleged malpractice incident the following year. If internal medicine physicians were in the top percentile of hospital spending, this figure dropped to only a 0.3 percent risk.
3. General surgeons who were in the lowest fifth of spending had a malpractice rate of 2.3 percent, substantially higher than general surgeons in the top fifth of spending, which ranged between 0.1 percent and 0.4 percent across the seven specialties.
4. Researchers noted malpractice lawsuits declined among all specialties when physicians moved from the bottom fifth to the top fifth of spending, with general surgeons exhibiting the largest percent change (3.4 percent) year-over-year.
5. The study also found obstetricians who were more likely to perform caesarean delivers in a given year had less malpractice claims than the previous year.
6. Researchers noted the, "study uncovered a few interesting data that's worth following up on." However, the study is limited in that it did not account for instances where physicians might avoid treating a patient if she or he had high liability risk. Additionally, the data in the study was only from Florida, and malpractice rates may vary from other states.
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