April 23, 2003

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., April 23, 2003 The Florida Senate readied for passage a disjointed package of medical liability bills on Wednesday that will not solve the state's deepening crisis, and in some respects may make it worse, leaders of a broad-based coalition said.

Senators amended three separate bills (CS SB 560, CS SB 562 and CS SB 564) to address isolated aspects of the growing crisis. But coalition officials said the bills contain serious flaws that will not halt the erosion of healthcare services for citizens or ease skyrocketing healthcare costs.

"We need meaningful reforms, not smoke and mirrors reforms," Governor Bush said in a press conference with Jacksonville business leaders. "I will not participate in passing a bill that will not solve the problem … We can't ignore this problem."

The governor asked House and Senate leaders to put aside their differences and to craft a compromise bill that marries the best elements of the legislation separately produced by the two chambers, including a cap of $250,000 on non-economic damages in medical liability cases. Both the governor and the Coalition to Heal Healthcare in Florida have urged lawmakers to adopt a comprehensive bill that is aligned with the recommendations of the Governor's Task Force of university officials.

Governor Bush also warned lawmakers that he will bring them back to Tallahassee for a special session if they cannot agree on meaningful reforms to fix Florida's broken medical liability system prior to the scheduled end of the session on May 2.

The Senate bills offer a piecemeal approach toward solving the state's crisis and contain serious flaws that could actually make things worse, coalition leaders say. For example:

• The Senate bills provide sovereign immunity to doctors working in emergency rooms, but in doing so, merely transfer liability to hospitals. "That isn't cost control," said Wayne NeSmith, President of the Florida Hospital Association and a leader of the coalition. "That's cost shifting."
• The Senate bills fail to eliminate the legal concept of "joint and several liability," which opens the door for "deep pocket" defendants to pay higher damages than they are liable for, rather than based on their degree of fault.
• The Senate bills would require medical liability insurers to roll back their rates, without addressing the underlying problems of why loss payments are skyrocketing. This is an unrealistic solution, given the number of companies writing medical liability policies has collapsed from 66 in 1999 to four currently, and will drive insurers out of the state.
• The Senate bills propose a state-created insurance program that would require physicians to buy coverage from it. This program would serve as an impediment to reviving the private insurance market, and would likely go bankrupt from high loss payments, as did a similar failed experiment in the 1970s.
• The Senate bills fail to include a cap of $250,000 on non-economic damages awarded in medical liability cases - unlike the House, which includes a cap. The Governor's Task Force of university officials and respected actuarial firms have touted this cap as the single most important reform in making loss payments more predictable, bringing down premiums for doctors and hospitals, and encouraging insurers to return to Florida. Injured parties would still be able to collect unlimited economic damages.

"The Senate has failed to enact the meaningful, comprehensive reforms that Florida needs to end this crisis," NeSmith said. "Time is running out. We need Senate and House leaders to join together to craft a bill that embraces the comprehensive blue print for reform set out by the Governor's Task Force. If legislative leaders don't act by May 2, we're facing the real prospects of a public health crisis in this state."

A contingent of Jacksonville healthcare and business representatives met with Senate President Jim King, R-Jacksonville, prior to the Senate's votes, to try to drive home to King the urgency of the crisis. Several large physician's groups in Jacksonville have recently announced that they will curtail their practices if the Legislature doesn't act by the end of session, leading to serious public health questions of how emergency room surgeries and mammographies will be covered.

"The business message (to Senator King) is that we have to address this issue," said Hugh Greene, President and CEO of Baptist Health in Jacksonville. "You can't separate this issue from what's best for the community, what's best for business in the community."

The Coalition to Heal Healthcare in Florida is a broad-based alliance of more than 100 of the state's top medical and business groups, spearheaded by the Florida Hospital Association and the Florida Medical Association. The coalition is asking state lawmakers to repair Florida's broken medical liability system in 2003

Contact:

Bill Bell, Florida Hospital Association: (850) 222-9800

Ron Bartlett, Hill and Knowlton: (813)545-2399

Brian Warecki, Hill and Knowlton: (813) 221-0030