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SAN DIEGO – Between 2005 and 2013, the number of anesthesia-related medical malpractice payments decreased by 41%, and the reduction in payments was more significant in inpatient settings, compared with outpatient settings.
Those are key findings from an analysis of national data presented by lead author Dr. Richard J. Kelly at an annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
“It was gratifying to see that overall, the trends of anesthesia-related claims have gone down over the years,” said Dr. Kelly of the department of anesthesiology and perioperative care at the University of California, Irvine. “We did see that because the number of inpatient payments has fallen faster than outpatient payments, the proportion of outpatient payments has increased relative to inpatient claims.”
For the study, the researchers used the U.S. National Practitioner Data Bank to compare inpatient and outpatient anesthesia-related medical malpractice claims made against physicians during 2005-2013. They looked at the number and size of inpatient and outpatient payments over time and compared patient age, patient sex, clinical outcome, and type of medical error for each type of these payments.
Over the 9-year period the frequency of anesthesia-related payments decreased 41.4% (4.6%/year). Payments for inpatient claims decreased a total of 45.5% (5.1%/year) while outpatient payments decreased 24.3% (2.7%/year). The most common patient age group was 40-49 years (40.1% of anesthesia-related claims) and slightly more than half of claims involved females (54.4%). Court judgments made up only 2.7% of claims, while the remainder were settlements.
Cumulative payments for malpractice claims decreased by 47.8% during the study period, from $174.4 million in 2005 to $91.1 million in 2013, and the decrease was greater for inpatient claims (51.4%, compared with 25.9% for outpatient claims). The median payment for all claims was $245,000, and inpatient payments were significantly more expensive than were outpatient claims ($261,742 vs. $189,349; P less than .001).
Death was the most common clinical outcome for all of the paid claims (38.4%) and made up a larger proportion of inpatient than outpatient payments (39.8% vs. 33.9%, respectively). Major injury represented 29.8% of all payments, with no significant difference observed between treatment settings. Compared with inpatient payments, outpatient payments were more likely to involve minor injuries (31.2% vs. 18.2%) and were less likely to involve debilitating injuries (6.4% vs. 9.9%). The study findings “tell us that there are a lot more surgeries being done in an outpatient arena now,” Dr. Kelly said. “And, because of that, surgeons and anesthesia providers should be careful to make sure that patients are appropriately selected for an outpatient setting.”
Dr. Kelly reported having no financial disclosures.
SAN DIEGO – Between 2005 and 2013, the number of anesthesia-related medical malpractice payments decreased by 41%, and the reduction in payments was more significant in inpatient settings, compared with outpatient settings.
Those are key findings from an analysis of national data presented by lead author Dr. Richard J. Kelly at an annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
“It was gratifying to see that overall, the trends of anesthesia-related claims have gone down over the years,” said Dr. Kelly of the department of anesthesiology and perioperative care at the University of California, Irvine. “We did see that because the number of inpatient payments has fallen faster than outpatient payments, the proportion of outpatient payments has increased relative to inpatient claims.”
For the study, the researchers used the U.S. National Practitioner Data Bank to compare inpatient and outpatient anesthesia-related medical malpractice claims made against physicians during 2005-2013. They looked at the number and size of inpatient and outpatient payments over time and compared patient age, patient sex, clinical outcome, and type of medical error for each type of these payments.
Over the 9-year period the frequency of anesthesia-related payments decreased 41.4% (4.6%/year). Payments for inpatient claims decreased a total of 45.5% (5.1%/year) while outpatient payments decreased 24.3% (2.7%/year). The most common patient age group was 40-49 years (40.1% of anesthesia-related claims) and slightly more than half of claims involved females (54.4%). Court judgments made up only 2.7% of claims, while the remainder were settlements.
Cumulative payments for malpractice claims decreased by 47.8% during the study period, from $174.4 million in 2005 to $91.1 million in 2013, and the decrease was greater for inpatient claims (51.4%, compared with 25.9% for outpatient claims). The median payment for all claims was $245,000, and inpatient payments were significantly more expensive than were outpatient claims ($261,742 vs. $189,349; P less than .001).
Death was the most common clinical outcome for all of the paid claims (38.4%) and made up a larger proportion of inpatient than outpatient payments (39.8% vs. 33.9%, respectively). Major injury represented 29.8% of all payments, with no significant difference observed between treatment settings. Compared with inpatient payments, outpatient payments were more likely to involve minor injuries (31.2% vs. 18.2%) and were less likely to involve debilitating injuries (6.4% vs. 9.9%). The study findings “tell us that there are a lot more surgeries being done in an outpatient arena now,” Dr. Kelly said. “And, because of that, surgeons and anesthesia providers should be careful to make sure that patients are appropriately selected for an outpatient setting.”
Dr. Kelly reported having no financial disclosures.
SAN DIEGO – Between 2005 and 2013, the number of anesthesia-related medical malpractice payments decreased by 41%, and the reduction in payments was more significant in inpatient settings, compared with outpatient settings.
Those are key findings from an analysis of national data presented by lead author Dr. Richard J. Kelly at an annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
“It was gratifying to see that overall, the trends of anesthesia-related claims have gone down over the years,” said Dr. Kelly of the department of anesthesiology and perioperative care at the University of California, Irvine. “We did see that because the number of inpatient payments has fallen faster than outpatient payments, the proportion of outpatient payments has increased relative to inpatient claims.”
For the study, the researchers used the U.S. National Practitioner Data Bank to compare inpatient and outpatient anesthesia-related medical malpractice claims made against physicians during 2005-2013. They looked at the number and size of inpatient and outpatient payments over time and compared patient age, patient sex, clinical outcome, and type of medical error for each type of these payments.
Over the 9-year period the frequency of anesthesia-related payments decreased 41.4% (4.6%/year). Payments for inpatient claims decreased a total of 45.5% (5.1%/year) while outpatient payments decreased 24.3% (2.7%/year). The most common patient age group was 40-49 years (40.1% of anesthesia-related claims) and slightly more than half of claims involved females (54.4%). Court judgments made up only 2.7% of claims, while the remainder were settlements.
Cumulative payments for malpractice claims decreased by 47.8% during the study period, from $174.4 million in 2005 to $91.1 million in 2013, and the decrease was greater for inpatient claims (51.4%, compared with 25.9% for outpatient claims). The median payment for all claims was $245,000, and inpatient payments were significantly more expensive than were outpatient claims ($261,742 vs. $189,349; P less than .001).
Death was the most common clinical outcome for all of the paid claims (38.4%) and made up a larger proportion of inpatient than outpatient payments (39.8% vs. 33.9%, respectively). Major injury represented 29.8% of all payments, with no significant difference observed between treatment settings. Compared with inpatient payments, outpatient payments were more likely to involve minor injuries (31.2% vs. 18.2%) and were less likely to involve debilitating injuries (6.4% vs. 9.9%). The study findings “tell us that there are a lot more surgeries being done in an outpatient arena now,” Dr. Kelly said. “And, because of that, surgeons and anesthesia providers should be careful to make sure that patients are appropriately selected for an outpatient setting.”
Dr. Kelly reported having no financial disclosures.
AT THE ASA ANNUAL MEETING
