No Correlation: Continued Decrease in Medical Malpractice Payments Debunks Theory that Litigation is to Blame for Soaring Medical Costs

Abstract

Medical malpractice payments made on behalf of doctors and the inflation-adjusted value of such payments were at their lowest level on record in 2012, according to the federal government’s National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB), which has tracked such payments since the fall of 1990.In 2012, both the number of malpractice payments on behalf of doctors and unadjusted value of such payments declined for the ninth consecutive year. In unadjusted dollars, payments were at their lowest level since 1998.Medical malpractice payments’ share of the nation’s health care bill also was its lowest on record in 2012, falling to about one-tenth of 1 percent (0.11 percent) of national health care costs. Medical liability insurance premiums fell to 0.36 of 1 percent of health care costs, the lowest level in the past 10 years, which represents the extent of data the researcher was able to obtain. More than four-fifths of the money allocated in medical malpractice awards in 2012 compensated for death, catastrophic harms or serious permanent injuries.The facts surrounding the prevalence of medical malpractice litigation are important because medical malpractice has been singled out by many in Congress as the culprit for rising health care costs. In reality, this report shows, there is no evidence that the prevalence of medical malpractice litigation significantly influences health care costs. Cumulative malpractice payments were 28.8 percent lower in 2012 than in 2003, yet overall health care costs were 58.3 percent higher.