Healthcare Matters

Physicians incur nearly all of the medical malpractice suits filed in the United States. In fact, according to the National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) 2010 Annual Report, physicians account for almost 80 percent of all malpractice claims, with the remainder incurred by dentists and other types of practitioners. How many malpractice suits get filed each year? Based on data collected by the NPDB in 2001, more than 20,000. However, a decade later, that figure dropped substantially. Even though total claims these days have skyrocketed (thanks to adverse reaction suits), malpractice suits are actually at a 10-year low. Just 13,300 were filed in 2010.

Is this possible?

The adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) dramatically cut malpractice suits for the participants in a small study led by Steven R. Simon, MD, MPH, of the VA Boston Healthcare System and Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The reduction reflected the number of all closed claims, rather than just payouts, as reported in a research letter published online in the Archives of Internal Medicine. Regardless, the study revealed evidence of a very positive correlation. Is it valid?

• Researchers reported medical malpractice claims were roughly 84 percent less likely for physicians who had adopted electronic medical records. The study covered 275 physicians who had claims in 2005, and revisited those physicians two years later in 2007. “Overall, 33 of the 275 physicians from multiple surgical and medical specialties who responded in 2005 and/or 2007 incurred a total of 51 unique claims; 49 of these claims were related to events occurring before EHR adoption, and two were related to events occurring after EHR adoption,” researchers wrote.

Researchers blame EHRs and how their use improves the overall accuracy of communication, accelerates access to patient data, decreases prescription errors and increases compliance with clinical guidelines. Electronic health records “improve quality and safety and, as a result, prevent adverse events and reduce the risk of malpractice claims,” said study co-author Steven Simon, MD, an associate professor with Harvard Medical School and an internist with VA Boston Healthcare System.

And, of course, it goes without saying that the high quality and availability of proper documentation in EHRs increases the likelihood of a successful defense against malpractice claims. But more importantly, and despite how slight the study may have been, the conclusions directly smack critics who have argued that EHRs create all kinds of new liabilities (patient data security issues are the most popular).

In the wired world we occupy, EHRs are an essential technology. And if a reduction in malpractice claims is a nice side benefit that can be statistically linked to EHR adoption, then just imagine how much good could come from a more direct approach, like tort reform. In this context, if EHR adoption is an ounce of prevention, then tort reform would be a pound of cure.

—Tom Finn