Medical malpractice reform has been supported by many experts who argue it lowers healthcare costs by reducing the amount of defensive medicine practiced by physicians, but according to a recent RAND Corporation study, that argument may not be based in fact.
For the study, researchers examined the behavior of emergency physicians in
The study specifically examined whether physicians in the three states ordered an advanced imaging study, whether the patient was hospitalized after the emergency visit and the total charges for the visit. Physicians have identified advanced imaging and hospitalization as common defensive medicine practices.
The researchers found medical malpractice reform laws had no effect on physicians' use of advanced imaging or on the rate of hospitalization following emergency visits in the three states.
The study also found malpractice reform caused no reduction in charges in
"Our findings suggest that malpractice reform may have less effect on costs than has been projected by conventional wisdom," said Daniel A. Waxman, MD, the study's lead author and a researcher at
Researchers examined 3.8 million Medicare patient records from 1,166 hospital EDs from 1997 to 2011 for the study.
The results of the study were published in the Oct. 16 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine.
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