Six Steps to Better Health ReformPresident Obama has more or less allowed Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her allies in the House to dictate the terms by which health reform would be accomplished. Disappointingly, they have chosen an expensive, big-bureaucracy health care plan that would raise taxes on small businesses.
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So, What Does the Largest Group of American Doctors Want in any US Healthcare Reform Effort?
Physicians across the nation are speaking out on SERMO, the world’s largest online physician community, about the short fallings in the current healthcare reform bills working their way through Congress. The 110,000 US physicians who use SERMO are becoming more vocal to ensure meaningful reform occurs. The central issue, according to physicians, is that the current bills do not address the real sources of rising healthcare costs. According to Dr. Daniel Palestrant, a surgeon and CEO of SERMO, “Physicians are in a unique position in that they know exactly where the breaks in our healthcare system are. They have been shielding the general public from these realities for years, but realize the current situation is now untenable.” Read more >>
Reforming America’s Civil Justice SystemCivil justice reform has often been viewed as an important component in the health reform debate. Within any health reform proposal, there should be a strong commitment to the development of a fairer, less expensive and more timely system of health justice. The reform proposal should provide conflict resolution and equity protection, while protecting the rights of individual Americans and providing a more effective and less expensive system for the American society at large.
In July 2009, the Center for Health Transformation released a white paper entitled, “Health Justice Policy Recommendations by the Center for Health Transformation” which focused on six specific strategies including 1) Creating expert witness standards; 2) Developing a specialized system of health courts; 3) Abolition of the collateral source rule; 4) Creating safe harbors for physicians who embrace specialty society developed best practices; 5) Allowing physicians to apologize without implication; and 6) Creating a cap of non-economic damages.
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NewsGraham, Chambliss Address Medical Malpractice with ‘Loser Pays’ Reform WASHINGTON – United States Senators Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) and Saxby Chambliss (R-Georgia) today introduced ‘Loser Pays’ legislation to decrease the number of frivolous lawsuits that increase the cost of medical care. Read more >>> "New Study Finds Limiting Malpractice Liability Could Cut Health Costs" Republicans have complained repeatedly that Democratic health care proposals don’t include any limits on damage awards in malpractice lawsuits or other “tort reform” measures. And they claim the savings to taxpayers and the economy could be enormous. Read more >>> "Why Medical Malpractice Is Off Limits"A few thousand trial lawyers have a lock on Democrats, who refuse to consider any legal reform. Eliminating defensive medicine could save upwards of $200 billion in health-care costs annually, according to estimates by the American Medical Association and others. Read more >>> "45% of Physicians Would Quit if Congress Passes Health Care Overhaul"
Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan... Read more >> "Tax Reform's Lesson for Health Care Reform"
The bipartisan trade-off in a viable health care bill is obvious: Combine universal coverage with malpractice tort reform ... Read more >>“Doctors Wage War Against Obama’s Health Care Overhaul”
Some physicians are waging an all-out war against a health care reform bill they say amounts to nothing more than socialized medicine... Read more >>
“Without Public Option, Enthusiasm for Health Care Reform, Especially Among Democrats, Collapses”
Just 34% of voters support the health care reform plan if the so-called “public option” is removed... Read more >>
“54% Say Passing No Healthcare Reform Better Than Passing Congressional Plan”
Thirty-five percent of American voters say passage of the bill would be better than not passing any health care reform legislation this year... Read more >>
“New Poll Shows Large Majority of Americans Like U.S. Healthcare”
An astounding 79 percent of Americans say they would seek medical care in the US over any nation in the world if they had a serious medical condition... Read more >>
Important LinksDoctors for Patient Care
Docs4PatientCare (D4PC) represents the interests and concerns of both, patients and doctors in the healthcare reform debate. D4PC endorses the concept of needed healthcare reform...without requiring the nationalization of the entire American healthcare system.
Physicians for Reform
Physicians for Reform was founded to find solutions for American healthcare. Working together, physicians, patients, and the business community can recapture the heart of medicine and secure a political platform to reform American healthcare through Insurance Reform, Tax Reform, and Tort Reform.
Sermo
Sermo is where physicians collaborate on challenging cases, share clinical insights and improve patient care in real-time. To date, they’ve generated over 30,000 discussions and sparked over 3,000,000 comments.
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