News

Legislative Update-FLORIDA - 31/08/2011
The 2011 Legislative Session was one of the most challenging in many years as proposals affecting the practice of medicine were debated. In spite of those challenges, Florida physicians will benefit from the passage of medical malpractice reform bill, HB 479. The provisions in HB 479 include the following: • Expert Witness Issues o Requires an MD, DO or DDS licensed in another state to obtain an expert witness certificate before providing expert testimony in Florida. o Gives the Boards of Medicine (BOM), Osteopathic Medicine (BOOM), and Dentistry the specific authority to discipline expert witnesses who provide deceptive or fraudulent expert witness testimony. o Provides that the expert witness who submits the pre-suit expert medical opinion is no longer immune from discipline. • Requires the BOM and the BOOM to create a standard informed consent form that sets forth the recognized risks related to cataract surgery. Provides that an incident resulting from a recognized specific risk is not considered an adverse incident. • Deletes the provision in current law that prohibits an insurance company from selling a malpractice insurance policy to a physician that gives the physician the authority to control settlement decisions. • Excludes from evidence in any medical negligence action any information regarding an insurer's reimbursement policies or reimbursement determinations. • Provides that the breach of, or failure to comply with, any federal requirement is not admissible as evidence in a medical negligence case. • Creates a new pre-suit form, the "authorization for release of protected health information." • Provides that volunteer team physicians are immune from suit when gratuitously rendering care at a school athletic event. In addition to the provisions of HB 479, a separate bill passed that extends sovereign immunity protection to faculty physicians at teaching hospitals. Finally, included in the Medicaid overhaul is a provision that will limit non-economic damages for physicians who treat Medicaid patients to $200,000. Hospitals will not be liable for more than $300,000. These excerpts were taken with permission from FPIC's JUNE 2011 Agent AdvisorC

Professional Liability Underwriting Society "PLUS" - 31/08/2011
The 24th Annual PLUS International Conference is coming to San Diego, CA, November 2-4, 2011, and the program for this year's event is extraordinary. Keynote speakers for the event include Tony Blair, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, best-selling author Daniel Pink, and President and Economist at the Insurance Information Institute, Dr. Robert Hartwig.