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1994 SESSION

LD2325759
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 159
AMENDMENT IN THE NATURE OF A SUBSTITUTE
(Proposed by the Senate Committee on Rules
on February 10, 1994)
(Patron Prior to Substitute--Senator Woods)
Establishing a joint subcommittee to study the effect of defensive medical care and negligent medical care on health care delivery.

WHEREAS, every health care reform proposal introduced into Congress and many presentations made to the Joint Commission on Health Care include the need for tort reform to reduce rising medical costs; and

WHEREAS, it is estimated that as much as $20,000 annually per doctor is passed on to patients in the form of additional diagnostic tests, recordkeeping and consultations, just to protect physicians from the threat of liability, which in Virginia totals $200 million a year; and

WHEREAS, the insurance liability system, as it now is structured, provides neither an efficient nor an equitable means of compensation for injured parties nor an adequate deterrent against medical negligence at an individual or systems level; and

WHEREAS, current systems of risk management and professional regulation, in general, do a poor job of identifying and correcting inappropriate or negligent behavior; and

WHEREAS, there is considerable potential to reduce the frequency of maloccurance by better addressing the problem of negligence-prone physicians; and

WHEREAS, recent studies have researched and examined in detail what constitutes defensive medical care and negligent medical care and the causative factors and how those can be prevented; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That a joint subcommittee be established to study the effect of defensive medical care and negligent medical care upon (i) health care providers' perceptions of the risk of medical malpractice and upon their behavior in determining which health care services will be rendered to a particular patient; (ii) the effectiveness of managed care systems in reducing or eliminating prescribed services that are determined not to be cost-effective or medically necessary; and (iii) the effectiveness of the medical malpractice system as a deterrent to negligence by health care providers or managed care organizations. The joint subcommittee shall be composed of 15 members as follows: three members of the Senate to be appointed by the Senate Committee on Privileges and Elections; five members of the House of Delegates to be appointed by the Speaker; one member from a health maintenance organization; one member from the hospital industry; one member who is a medical doctor; one member from the medical malpractice insurance industry; one member who is an attorney; and two members who each represent a Virginia university with a teaching hospital. All citizen members shall be appointed by the Governor.

The Division of Legislative Services shall provide staff support for the study. Technical assistance shall be provided by the University of Virginia Medical Center and the Medical College of Virginia.

The direct costs of the study shall not exceed $8,250.

The joint subcommittee shall complete its work in time to submit its findings and recommendations to the Governor and the 1995 Session of the General Assembly as provided in the procedures of the Division of Legislative Automated Systems for processing legislative documents.

Implementation of this resolution is subject to subsequent approval and certification by the Joint Rules Committee. The Committee may withhold expenditures or delay the period for the conduct of the study.