While President Obama and Congress strive to boost the economy through upgrades in health care technology, why not consider a legal upgrade as well, such as adopting the provisions of California's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act?
Congress has considered MICRA-like reforms in the past (including a $250,000 cap on medical malpractice awards for non-economic damages), but has always met resistance not only by lobbyists for personal injury lawyers but sometimes by those who simply feel that health care liability is a state -- not a federal -- issue.
But with a federal investment in electronic medical records a big part of the current economic stimulus plan, there is a renewed rationale for national standards on medical malpractice liability.
It's happened before. When Congress saw the advantages of electronic data interchange in the processing of health care insurance reimbursements, it passed the Health Care Portability and Accountability Act so that there would be national standards for the privacy of protected health information.
A federal standard that balances an injured plaintiff's right to recovery with the need to keep health care affordable to every one of the nation's citizens would be just the kind of economic stimulus the nation needs. Not only would national MICRA-like reforms strengthen the health care safety net, they also would make American businesses more competitive by lowering employee health benefit costs.
With many of the components in the federal stimulus plan based mostly on economic theory, including a program with a proven track record, like MICRA, would add an element of certainty to this historic effort to move the country forward.
Gordon Ownby is general counsel of the Cooperative of American Physicians, Inc., www.cap-mpt.com, and can be contacted at gownby@cap-mpt.com.