Malpractice Liability and Quality of Care: Clear Answer, Remaining Questions

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

1-2020

Journal Title

JAMA

ISSN

0098-7484

DOI

10.1001/jama.2019.22530

Abstract

In this issue of JAMA, Mello and colleagues report findings from a review of 37 studies and conclude that increased liability exposure (such as numbers of malpractice claims, dollar amounts of liability insurance premiums, or changes to state malpractice laws) was not associated with improvement in the quality of patient care. Their review draws effectively from databases of peer-reviewed medical literature, economics scholarship, and legal publications, and presents a thorough, necessary, and rigorous analysis of recent research.

The review also highlights limitations of prior work. Apart from obstetrical care, studies relating malpractice liability to the quality of medical care have provided few insights about specific practice areas, and there is scant research involving outpatient settings or no-liability control groups. Exposure types, controls, and outcomes were variable, which limited the inferences that could be drawn. Given heterogeneity among the studies, the authors appropriately refrained from conducting a meta-analysis.

First Page

315

Last Page

317

Num Pages

3

Volume Number

323

Issue Number

4

Publisher

American Medical Association

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