A study conducted by the University of Connecticut Health Center and the Massachusetts Medical Society showed that the cost of defensive medicine — tests, procedures, referrals, hospitalizations, or prescriptions ordered by physicians fearful of lawsuits — is "huge and widespread," according to a report from the UConn Advance.
According to the Investigation of Defensive Medicine in Massachusetts, the estimated costs of defensive medicine are around $1.4 billion a year. The study also reported that an average of 18-28 percent of tests, referrals, procedures and consultations and around 13 percent of hospitalizations were ordered due to defensive reasons.
The study consisted of about 900 physicians in Massachusetts and was conducted between Nov. 2007 and Apr. 2008.
Read the UConn Advance's report on the defensive medicine study.
Read the results of the Investigation of Defensive Medicine in Massachusetts (pdf).
The study consisted of about 900 physicians in Massachusetts and was conducted between Nov. 2007 and Apr. 2008.
Read the UConn Advance's report on the defensive medicine study.
Read the results of the Investigation of Defensive Medicine in Massachusetts (pdf).