Healthcare Policy Essay

Submitted By bluebird16
Words: 1307
Pages: 6

Healthcare Policy
Salina Calles
HCS 455
Dr. Baron Smith
December 20, 2012

Medical Malpractice Policy As time progresses, society and the surrounding environment are constantly changing. A component in the ever-changing workplace is healthcare. Daily discoveries are made whether it is relating to a new disease or a new technology to prevent one. trials and testing need to be done implement a technology or medicine to consumers so medical professionals are aware of side effects that can occur. To provide health services to consumers federal, state, and local regulations and guidelines need to be made to protect the providers and the consumers. Policies that regulate medical malpractice is used to protect a consumer is a medical provider fails to administer their services appropriately. A policy process is used when consumers expect and authorize courts to make a law pertaining to medical negligence. Three stages are used to create a policy, formulating, legislating, and implementing when it is created. The Institute of Medicine’s, To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System, errors that occur are not to blame on a sole individual but should focus on the health system that caused it. Not that the individual can be overlooked, but the organization needs to educate their employees in risk management and quality management. Mistakes can and will happen but reducing the amount of them actually occurring protects patients and providers. Formulation Malpractice insurance is used by a provider to protect their organization if a medical suit ever transpires. It is costly to obtain insurance due to high premiums but can protect the reputation of an organization if a suit exists. Between the 1960’s and the 1980’s the amount of malpractice claims rose rapidly. The cost of the claims and the cost of the reward if one is paid out, is a common form of malpractice insurance. Claims-made and reported policies were introduced to take the place of occurrence policies. An occurrence policy protects you from any incident occurring while the policy is in force A claims-made policy covers you for any covered claim ("American Psychological Association Insurance Trust", 2012). In 2010, seven states adopted different forms of reform to reduce medical errors, provide compensation for patients, and improve quality of care by using defensive medicine procedures ("Kaiseredu.org", 2011). Defensive medicine can take positive and negative forms. Positive defensive medicine is not cost effective but is unproductive. Negative defensive medicine is when care is not provided that could benefit an organization. Legislative A malpractice claims has to require three distinct elements to be considered:
An antagonistic event had to occur
The party responsible for the event is the provider due to a specific action, or lack of action.
Negligence between the patient and the physician had to take place.
(“Evaluating the Medical Malpractice System and Options for Reform,” 2011).
These three elements are all classified as the “negligence rule.” Malpractice claims have a negative factor, the average amount of patients who receive some form of compensation is 1 in 15. Often, there are delays when a claim is resolved, an average time it takes to receive compensation is around four years. “Evaluating the Medical Malpractice System and Options for Reform” (2011) states that a method used to provide patients with compensation without having to go through courts is binding alternative dispute resolution. Using this methods saves time and provides compensation to victims quicker than filing a dispute in court. Opponents claim that this method is biased because ties to provider organizations as opposed to individual plaintiffs are developed. In 1997 Florida, California, and Massachusetts made it possible to review malpractice records, by state-administered websites. As of 2010, seventeen states post these records for public use,