Confused mixed messaging should be America’s top motto as we try to live (emphasis on that word) through a lethal pandemic. Trump pushed drugs that are harmful to COVID patients, according to his own FDA. Politicians in states now seeing terrible virus surges, like Texas, are refusing to tell people to wear masks even though mayors are begging for this - since masks clearly work. But confusion reigns. Just check out a recent The View, when all hell broke loose over discussion about the safety differences between indoor and outdoor events.
With this in mind, welcome to the latest edition of the Medical Liability Monitor (MML), a $500/year medical malpractice insurance trade publication. In service of pushing the agenda of insurers while at the same time negating it, this is confused mixed messaging at its best.
The agenda, to put it simply, is to price gouge doctors with unnecessary rate hikes and blame patients who are negligently injured and go to court. Before the pandemic hit, the industry was already talking about hitting doctors with premium hikes and blaming lawsuits for this, even though there had been no jump in claims, no trends at all in that direction, and huge industry profits. (See this report.)
Now that we are a few months into a global pandemic, most of us have adjusted to entirely different realities. For example, almost no one other than COVID-19 patients have been interacting with the health care system. And the legal rights of COVID patients who were negligently treated have been eliminated by “emergency” legislation or executive order in half the states.
If you read some of the nonsense coming out of the insurance industry, however, you might never know that. For example, the headline story in MML’s June 2020 issue, "A.M. Best Maintains Negative Outlook On MPL Segment For 2020, COVID-19 Outbreak Exacerbating Challenges For Insurers," is basically a list of greatest hit complaints about “deterioration in underwriting results” and “dim prospects for the segment's profitability” due to things like the “surge of litigation” from the pandemic.
But keep reading. As to that litigation surge, they also write: “As of May 7, 2020, eight COVID-19-related medical malpractice lawsuits have been filed across the U.S., and more are likely to follow.” Eight. And no they are not. There are almost no COVID-related medical malpractice cases according to those tracking this.
And then there are other articles to note in that same MML edition. Here is one called, “Almost 55% Fewer Americans Sought Hospital Care In March-April, Driving A Clinical And Financial Crisis In U.S. Healthcare,” with MML reporting:
The analysis reveals that, across all service lines, and in every region of the country, there was an average 54.5% decrease in the number of unique patients who sought care in a hospital setting. The sharp drop in encounters is linked to the cancellation of elective surgeries during this time period.
Surgeries are an interesting benchmark. There are about 400,000 preventable surgical errors each year in the United States, no doubt some of which lead to insurance claims. But as MML reports, due to COVID,
[T]here were significant declines in the number of hip (79% drop) and knee (99% drop) replacement surgeries as well as in spinal fusions (81% drop) and repair of fractures (38% drop). Coronary stents (44%drop) and diagnostic catheterization (65% drop) also saw significant declines. Overall diagnostic volume declined by 60%.
No procedures, no preventable errors, no insurance claims. Some state insurance departments have figured that out, as MML also wrote this article: “New Jersey Demands Premium Refunds, California Expands Its Refund Order.” They report:
New Jersey Department of Banking & Insurance last month issued Bulletin No. 20-22, which orders the state's insurance companies to make a partial premium refund or other adjustment for certain specified lines of insurance that have experienced a reduction in loss exposure due to the COVID-19 pandemic [including medical malpractice insurance].
Similarly in California, Commissioner Ricardo Lara is “requiring insurance companies to return partial insurance premiums to consumers and businesses amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic” including medical malpractice premiums.
So thanks MML. You’ve certainly help clear all this up!
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