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The cost of management expenses and indemnity payments for medical malpractice claims is rising, but the number of claims dropped, according to a new study.
The rate of medical professional liability claims declined 27% from 5.1 cases per 100 physicians to 3.7 cases between 2007 to 2016, according to the 10-year assessment by CRICO Strategies, part of the Harvard Medical Institutions.
“For the roughly one million physicians across the country, this trend signals a dramatic change in their risk of being named in an MPL case,” the report said.
However, the average indemnity payment rose 3% per year to $360,000 at the end of the study period. Another key finding, the volume of high-indemnity payments, those between $3 million and $11 million, increased 7% annually.
The report also showed expenses of managing a malpractice claim increased 3.5% annually, reaching $46,000 per case in 2016. That outpaced both consumer and legal inflation indices.
“Typically, cases with more defendants require individual legal representation, adding complexity and cost to case management,” the report said.
For the complete analysis, download the report here.
