Centrists.Org and Common Good Co-Host Event to Discuss Health Courts
9/30/2004

On Tuesday, September 28th, Centrists.Org and Common Good co-hosted a luncheon on special-
ized health courts featuring Nancy Udell, Common
Good's Director of Policy, and David B. Kendall, Senior Fellow for Health Policy and Director of
Health Priorities Project at the Progressive Policy Institute.  Steve Northrup, health policy advisor to Senator Mike Enzi moderated.   

Pictured above are (from left to right) David Kendall, Nancy Udell, Steve Northrup, and Centrists.Org's Jeff Lemieux.

Nancy Udell's presentation was entitled The Case
for a Reliable Health Court: Making Malpractice Resolutions Part of the Cure.  It outlined very clearly the current (antagonistic) focus of the tort reform debate and spelled out the conditions necessary for malpractice reform to effectively take place. 

She focused on the unreliability of compensation and justice for medical injury under the current tort system.  In addition, her presentation addressed the costs of litigation and defensive medicine. 
Udell outlined the broad coalition of groups interested in the idea --   "[b]road reform, fair to doctors and patients, will generate broad support." 

Dave Kendall's presentation, Health Courts for Fair and Reliable Justice, reiterated the need for reform of the current malpractice system.  Among other reasons, fair and reliable medical justice would drive down health care costs by supporting actions of doctors and health plans to weed out unnecessary care.

His Bottom Line: “The current medical liability system has failed most injured patients and puts all patients in danger every time they need health care.”  

The current debate over reform is a stalemate, and has created what Kendall refers to as “a false choice between access to care and access to justice.”  In his opinion, “[p]atients deserve both.”

Kendall’s presentation was pragmatic – he explained how to implement his ideas of a system of specialized health courts.  States should be given five years in which to establish their courts, following the federal guidelines.  If states failed to act, federal health courts would be available as back-up.  He envisions them as being a hybrid between administrative courts and traditional courts, with the power to develop common law. 

Both Udell and Kendall seemed to feel that there is a great potential for bipartisan thinking on medical malpractice reform.  Evidence for this is that fact that both Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, MD and Senator John Kerry have both emphasized the need for action.  In Udell's words, "[w]e can break the stalemate.  Now is the time for real change."

Links:

Common Good Special Health Courts for Reliable Medical Justice

Progressive Policy Institute Do Injured Patients Have to Choose Between Doctors and Lawyers?  (September 2, 2004)

Common Good Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist Calls for the Creation of a Special Health Court (July 19, 2004)

Centrists.Org Commentary and Outline: Senator Frist's Health Reform Proposal (revised July 19, 2004)

Centrists.Org Senator Kerry's Health Proposal -- Prospects for Bipartisanship? (August 25, 2004)

Centrists.Org CBO's New Brief on Medical Malpractice Implies that Capping Awards is Not Enough  (January 25, 2004)

Centrists.Org Issue Summary: Health Care Performance and Liability Reform (DRAFT Last Updated 1/25/2004)

CentristPolicyNetwork.Org A Different Approach to Malpractice Reform (February 3, 2004)

CentristPolicyNetwork.Org Enzi Reliable Medical Justice Act (S.1518, Introduced July 31, 2003)