Malpractice reform law enacted in Pennsylvania: seen as a first step, not a solution. (News).

A Pennsylvania law enacted last month is a first step toward--but not a solution to--physicians' insurance woes in that state, doctors there say.

Pennsylvania governor Mark Schweiker signed House Bill 1802 into law on March 20. The bill was passed in the state's House of Representatives by a vote of 196-1 and in the Senate by a vote of 49-0. The votes came after intense lobbying by the Pennsylvania Medical Society and the Pennsylvania section of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

Physicians nationwide are feeling the squeeze of rising malpractice premiums, but Pennsylvania has some of the country's highest rates. On the heels of a …