Have state caps on malpractice awards increased the supply of physicians?
Twenty-seven states have laws that cap payments for noneconomic damages in malpractice cases. In this study we examined whether these laws have increased the supply of physicians, using county-level data from all fifty states from 1985 to 2000. Counties in states with a cap had 2.2 percent more phys...
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Published in: | Health affairs (Millwood, Va.) Vol. Suppl Web Exclusives; pp. W5 - 250-W5-258 |
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Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Journal Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
United States
01-01-2005
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | Get full text |
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Summary: | Twenty-seven states have laws that cap payments for noneconomic damages in malpractice cases. In this study we examined whether these laws have increased the supply of physicians, using county-level data from all fifty states from 1985 to 2000. Counties in states with a cap had 2.2 percent more physicians per capita because of the cap, and rural counties in states with a cap had 3.2 percent more physicians per capita. Rural counties in states with a dollar 250,000 cap had 5.4 percent more obstetrician-gynecologists and 5.5 percent more surgical specialists per capita than did rural counties in states with a cap above dollar 250,000. |
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Bibliography: | ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 0278-2715 |