Hospitals
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Tort reform is not just an esoteric debate for health care executives. On the local level, the medical malpractice liability crisis is having a very real effect on many hospitals. Although malpractice insurance premiums have moderated, access to care is being restricted in communities where obstetricians and family practitioners have decided to give up delivering babies. ⋯ Experts predict that medical students will shun obstetrical and other high-risk specialties to avoid the high cost of malpractice insurance. On the national level, President Bush has expressed concern that the liability situation is adding to the high cost of health care. And a number of congressmen have responded with legislation.
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Physicians are watching--and worrying about--a variety of new liability concerns generated by changing credentialing practices in hospitals. In fact, liability from peer review actions is the foremost legal concern of today's physicians.
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CEOs tell Hospitals magazine that imaging is a major area of expansion for their hospitals. But radiology is in a state of transition. ⋯ This situation has created competition--and tension--between physicians in the same community, physicians and hospitals, and physicians on the same medical staff. How can you avoid costly turf wars at your hospital? Health care executives and directors of medical affairs say that the answer to this realignment of specialties is to create integrated teams of medical specialists.