The growth of physician medical malpractice payments: evidence from the National Practitioner Data Bank.
We used data from the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) to study the growth of physician malpractice payments. Judgments at trial account for 4 percent of all malpractice payments; settlements account for the remaining 96 percent. The average payment grew 52 percent between 1991 and 2003 (4 percent per year) and now exceeds dollar 12 per capita each year. These increases are consistent with increases in the cost of health care. A preoccupation with data on judgments, extreme awards, or specific specialties results in an incomplete understanding of the growth of physician malpractice payments.
Chandra
Amitabh
A
Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire, USA. amitabh.chandra@dartmouth.edu
Nundy
Shantanu
S
Seabury
Seth A
SA
D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D006801:Humans; D008318:Malpractice / Q000191:economics*; D016749:National Practitioner Data Bank; D010820:Physicians / Q000191:economics*; D014481:United States