Advocate
Health Care pushes for federal medical liability reform |
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OAK
BROOK, Ill. - Advocate Health Care announced today that it has joined with the
Illinois Hospital Association (IHA) in "Condition Critical" - a state
wide effort led by the IHA and its 200 member hospitals to petition Gov. Rod
Blagojevich and the state legislature to pass real, meaningful and long-lasting
reforms, including limits on non-economic damages in medical liability cases.
In
April, the U.S. Senate again blocked a measure that would curb the
skyrocketing jury awards in medical malpractice cases. This legislation could
have helped to control what will otherwise become a crisis: a country of people
without accessible health care.
"Advocate
firmly believes that all people deserve access to quality health care,"
said Jim Skogsbergh, president and chief executive officer of Advocate Health
Care. "Unfortunately, liability insurance premiums for our physicians have
skyrocketed in recent years. As a result, a growing number of Illinois
physicians can no longer find or afford liability insurance."
Without
this insurance, physicians in Illinois are being forced to restrict their
practices - avoiding high-risk medical procedures such as delivering babies.
Others are simply retiring early or relocating to states like Wisconsin and
Indiana where reforms are in place and premiums are more affordable.
"Patients
living in Illinois and other states are watching helplessly as their doctors
retire early, leave the state or stop offering necessary procedures," said
Skogsbergh. "As this trend continues, patients will find it more and more
difficult to get the quality care they need. This has to stop."
A
recent study in the journal Health Affairs found that states with non-economic
damage caps had medical liability rates that were 17 percent lower than states
where no damage cap exists. Many of the states that are currently in crisis are
those where non-economic damage awards are uncapped.
"We've
already felt a huge impact within Advocate," said Skogsbergh. "Our
hospitals and physicians are confronted with dramatically higher medical
liability insurance expenses. It is becoming increasingly difficult to attract
new physicians to Illinois hospitals and many of our current physicians are
choosing to leave the state or close their practices, putting patient access to
care at risk."
Oak
Brook-based Advocate Health Care, the largest health care provider in Illinois,
has ranked among the nation's top 10 health care systems for seven consecutive
years. Advocate's dedicated physicians and associates strive to be leaders in
clinical excellence. At Advocate, quality of care is more than just words. A
faith-based, non-profit system, Advocate is related to both the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America and the United Church of Christ. Advocate's 200+ sites of
care in metropolitan Chicago include eight acute care hospitals and two
children's hospitals, a home health care company and three of Chicago's largest
medical groups.
With
25,000 employees, Advocate is the second largest private employer in Chicago
and the only health care provider listed among the 25 best places to work in
Chicago. Through a long-term academic and teaching affiliation with the
University of Illinois at Chicago Health Sciences Centre, Advocate trains more
resident physicians than any non-university teaching hospital in Illinois.
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