Malpractice woes haven't cut access: government report.(News)

Physician responses to the malpractice crisis have not contributed to widespread health care access problems, a General Accounting Office report has concluded.

Instead, actions taken by providers in response to rising premiums have resulted mostly in local access problems, the GAO determined in its analysis of nine states. The analysis focused on the implications of rising premiums on access to care.

Many of the reported provider actions in the biggest crisis states "were not substantiated or did not affect access to health care on a widespread basis," the GAO report said.

The report overgeneralized the impact of the malpractice crisis, said Dr. Tom Purdon, past president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Looking at all of the medical specialties, "it doesn't seem to be a big problem. But one only has to look at the data collected in Nevada, Pennsylvania, and other problem states to see that ob.gyns., neurosurgeons, and orthopedists are limiting their practices, and that many are leaving these areas," he told this newspaper.

And while the Association of Trial Lawyers of America thought the GAO rightfully classified the crisis as "extremely overblown," Dr. Donald Palmisano, president of the American Medical Association, said the finding of an access problem in crisis states provided enough evidence that a problem existed, and that tort reform was needed to control rising premiums.

"America's patients are the ones who will truly suffer if Congress does not act soon," he said in a statement.

Medical malpractice insurance premiums began to increase rapidly in some states beginning in the late 1990s. Between 2001 and 2002, premium rates increased by 15% on average nationally for the specialties of ob.gyn, internal medicine, and general surgery.