Gordon’s Medical Malpractice Reform Embraced by Administration

September 10, 2009, WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, September 9, President Barack Obama delivered a nationwide address on health care.  After outlining a number of priorities, the President stated that he would be instructing the U.S. Department Health and Human Services to move forward immediately on a medical malpractice reform initiative authored by Congressman Bart Gordon.

The day after the speech, Sept. 10, the White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs explained the Administration plans for medical malpractice: “The president and his team will look at very closely what Congressman Bart Gordon put in the Energy and Commerce legislation…to cut down on unnecessary costs and…defensive medicine.”

“The Administration is going to move forward with my proposals immediately,” Gordon added, “test them out in a number of states, and, as I understand it, develop a national policy to effectively reduce frivolous lawsuits.”

Gordon’s amendment to the House Energy and Commerce bill was modeled around a program the State of Tennessee implemented in 2008, which has proven thus far to be effective.  The primary goals of Gordon’s amendment were to reduce frivolous malpractice lawsuits and encourage doctors to abandon the practice of defensive medicine.

“Defensive medicine is when doctors order tests and procedures to avoid being legally vulnerable and sued for medical malpractice,” explained Gordon.  “This practice has been estimated to cost more than $200 billion each year – it’s one of the largest sources of wasteful spending in the U.S. health care system and we need to do something about it.”

Gordon’s malpractice reform provision will provide incentives to states that implement a “Certificate of Merit” or “Early Offer” program as alternatives to going to court.  These programs have been shown to be effective in multiple states at reducing the number of medical malpractice lawsuits filed.  Gordon’s measure is the only medical malpractice provision that has been adopted in any of the health care reform proposals before Congress.