Around 6 in 10 physicians have been named in a malpractice lawsuit during their time in practice, according to Medscape's "The Rising Price of Risk Management: Physicians and Malpractice Report 2024," published Oct. 11.
The report surveyed 1,029 physicians across more than 29 specialties between May 1 and June 11.
Here are eight things for orthopedic and spine surgeons to know about physician malpractice in 2024:
1. Annual malpractice premiums are at least $10,000 for the majority of both employed and self-employed physicians. A plurality of self-employed physicians (26%) sees premiums between $10,000-$14,999, while a plurality of employed physicians sees premiums between $5,000 and $9,999.
2. Specialists see larger malpractice premiums than primary care physicians, with 13% of specialists seeing premiums over $30,000, compared to 8% of PCPs.
3. Almost half of self-employed physicians (46%) and 40% of employed physicians see premiums as unreasonable.
4. Around 33% of physicians rarely or never worry about malpractice exposure. Over half of physicians think about it sometimes, frequently or constantly.
5. Physicians believe that the best way to discourage malpractice lawsuits is to improve communication with patients generally.
6. The most frequent malpractice-related allegation faced by physicians is a failure to diagnose or delayed diagnosis.
7. Around 37% of serious malpractice lawsuits are settled before trial.
8. Following malpractice allegations, 43% of physicians took steps to reduce their risk of future claims, while 35% trust patients less often and treat them differently.