People Are Suing Hospitals for Malpractice More Frequently, Report Finds

The pace of malpractice claims against hospitals is picking up, according to a recent report from Aon Risk Solutions and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management.

Earlier in the decade, growth in the frequency of claims declined for several years in a row, down to a 1.81% increase for incidents occurring in 2006. The pace has now ticked up for the past three years, to 1.95% for incidents occurring last year, the report says.

It estimates the cost of the 44,000-odd claims arising from incidents occurring last year will top $8.6 billion (that covers hospitals only, not physicians or long-term care facilities.) Obstetrics-related claims alone will run an estimated $1.4 billion.

Erik Johnson, health care practice leader for Aon Risk Solutions’ Actuarial and Analytics Practice, tells the Health Blog it’s not clear why the frequency of claims against hospitals is edging up. Possibilities include a weakening of tort reforms in some states and the recession — he says hard times may make people more likely to file a claim.

Health-care overhaul legislation didn’t affect the forecast, Johnson says. While hospitals may be focused on how that law will impact their business, “they should focus at least one eye on this [liability] expense,” he says.

It’s also possible that as community hospitals increasingly employ physicians, some liability costs may be shifting from doctors to hospitals, he says.

The average loss per claim (including expenses) is rising at a steady 4% annual rate, the report says. It’s expected to be $153,000 for incidents that occurred last year. That stat covers only losses up to $2 million, which is to limit the influence of rare large awards and also to reflect the expenses likely to be borne directly by the hospital — Johnson says most hospitals have a significant deductible and that insurance doesn’t kick in until a payout hits a certain amount.

A full 23% of hospital professional liability costs are associated with health-care acquired infections, health-care acquired injuries, medication errors, objects left in surgery and pressure ulcers, the report says.

Further reading:

Image: iStockphoto

View the original article here

People Are Suing Hospitals for Malpractice More Frequently, Report Finds

The pace of malpractice claims against hospitals is picking up, according to a recent report from Aon Risk Solutions and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management.

Earlier in the decade, growth in the frequency of claims declined for several years in a row, down to a 1.81% increase for incidents occurring in 2006. The pace has now ticked up for the past three years, to 1.95% for incidents occurring last year, the report says.

It estimates the cost of the 44,000-odd claims arising from incidents occurring last year will top $8.6 billion (that covers hospitals only, not physicians or long-term care facilities.) Obstetrics-related claims alone will run an estimated $1.4 billion.

Erik Johnson, health care practice leader for Aon Risk Solutions’ Actuarial and Analytics Practice, tells the Health Blog it’s not clear why the frequency of claims against hospitals is edging up. Possibilities include a weakening of tort reforms in some states and the recession — he says hard times may make people more likely to file a claim.

Health-care overhaul legislation didn’t affect the forecast, Johnson says. While hospitals may be focused on how that law will impact their business, “they should focus at least one eye on this [liability] expense,” he says.

It’s also possible that as community hospitals increasingly employ physicians, some liability costs may be shifting from doctors to hospitals, he says.

The average loss per claim (including expenses) is rising at a steady 4% annual rate, the report says. It’s expected to be $153,000 for incidents that occurred last year. That stat covers only losses up to $2 million, which is to limit the influence of rare large awards and also to reflect the expenses likely to be borne directly by the hospital — Johnson says most hospitals have a significant deductible and that insurance doesn’t kick in until a payout hits a certain amount.

A full 23% of hospital professional liability costs are associated with health-care acquired infections, health-care acquired injuries, medication errors, objects left in surgery and pressure ulcers, the report says.

Further reading:

Image: iStockphoto

View the original article here

People Are Suing Hospitals for Malpractice More Frequently, Report Finds

The pace of malpractice claims against hospitals is picking up, according to a recent report from Aon Risk Solutions and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management.

Earlier in the decade, growth in the frequency of claims declined for several years in a row, down to a 1.81% increase for incidents occurring in 2006. The pace has now ticked up for the past three years, to 1.95% for incidents occurring last year, the report says.

It estimates the cost of the 44,000-odd claims arising from incidents occurring last year will top $8.6 billion (that covers hospitals only, not physicians or long-term care facilities.) Obstetrics-related claims alone will run an estimated $1.4 billion.

Erik Johnson, health care practice leader for Aon Risk Solutions’ Actuarial and Analytics Practice, tells the Health Blog it’s not clear why the frequency of claims against hospitals is edging up. Possibilities include a weakening of tort reforms in some states and the recession — he says hard times may make people more likely to file a claim.

Health-care overhaul legislation didn’t affect the forecast, Johnson says. While hospitals may be focused on how that law will impact their business, “they should focus at least one eye on this [liability] expense,” he says.

It’s also possible that as community hospitals increasingly employ physicians, some liability costs may be shifting from doctors to hospitals, he says.

The average loss per claim (including expenses) is rising at a steady 4% annual rate, the report says. It’s expected to be $153,000 for incidents that occurred last year. That stat covers only losses up to $2 million, which is to limit the influence of rare large awards and also to reflect the expenses likely to be borne directly by the hospital — Johnson says most hospitals have a significant deductible and that insurance doesn’t kick in until a payout hits a certain amount.

A full 23% of hospital professional liability costs are associated with health-care acquired infections, health-care acquired injuries, medication errors, objects left in surgery and pressure ulcers, the report says.

Further reading:

Image: iStockphoto

View the original article here

People Are Suing Hospitals for Malpractice More Frequently, Report Finds

The pace of malpractice claims against hospitals is picking up, according to a recent report from Aon Risk Solutions and the American Society for Healthcare Risk Management.

Earlier in the decade, growth in the frequency of claims declined for several years in a row, down to a 1.81% increase for incidents occurring in 2006. The pace has now ticked up for the past three years, to 1.95% for incidents occurring last year, the report says.

It estimates the cost of the 44,000-odd claims arising from incidents occurring last year will top $8.6 billion (that covers hospitals only, not physicians or long-term care facilities.) Obstetrics-related claims alone will run an estimated $1.4 billion.

Erik Johnson, health care practice leader for Aon Risk Solutions’ Actuarial and Analytics Practice, tells the Health Blog it’s not clear why the frequency of claims against hospitals is edging up. Possibilities include a weakening of tort reforms in some states and the recession — he says hard times may make people more likely to file a claim.

Health-care overhaul legislation didn’t affect the forecast, Johnson says. While hospitals may be focused on how that law will impact their business, “they should focus at least one eye on this [liability] expense,” he says.

It’s also possible that as community hospitals increasingly employ physicians, some liability costs may be shifting from doctors to hospitals, he says.

The average loss per claim (including expenses) is rising at a steady 4% annual rate, the report says. It’s expected to be $153,000 for incidents that occurred last year. That stat covers only losses up to $2 million, which is to limit the influence of rare large awards and also to reflect the expenses likely to be borne directly by the hospital — Johnson says most hospitals have a significant deductible and that insurance doesn’t kick in until a payout hits a certain amount.

A full 23% of hospital professional liability costs are associated with health-care acquired infections, health-care acquired injuries, medication errors, objects left in surgery and pressure ulcers, the report says.

Further reading:

Image: iStockphoto

View the original article here

How To Help People Lose Weight? Give ‘Em Free Meals and Money!

Some 68% of the country is either overweight or obese, but there’s not much clinical evidence on the best way to lose weight, outside of research on bariatric surgery. (True, “Eat less and exercise more” is great advice if you can manage to follow it, but public-health authorities have repeated that line until they’re blue in the face and as a population we’ve only gotten fatter.)

Research presented over the weekend at the annual meeting of the Obesity Society and published online in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests a few specific strategies that may help — namely making a commercial weight-loss program, including packaged foods, free.

In the study, some 442 overweight or obese women were randomly assigned to the Jenny Craig weight-loss program with once-weekly face-to-face counseling sessions, to the same program with weekly phone counseling or to a control group that received “usual care,” i.e. publicly available materials on diet and exercise. The two groups using the program also got $25 payments for every 6-month clinic visit to assess weight and other measurements. Jenny Craig, a unit of Nestl?, funded the research.

After two years, the in-person group had lost an average of 16.3 pounds, the phone group lost 13.6 pounds and the control group lost 4.4 pounds.

In the editorial accompanying the study, Rena Wing, a professor of psychiatry and human behavior at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School, writes the results suggest that if commercial weight-loss programs such as Jenny Craig were free to those who want to lose weight, “both retention and average weight loss outcomes might be far better than when participants must pay for these programs.” The program costs about $1,600 for 12 weeks, she writes. Compare that to the $19,000 to $29,000 cost of bariatric surgery, which is often reimbursed by insurers.

(The countervailing theory is that people value things more when they pay for them, and that the mere act of ponying up $1,600 for three months of a diet program may make you take it more seriously.)

Wing calls for cost-effectiveness studies, conducted by researchers without any financial ties to the companies involved, that compare different commercial programs with each other. She also notes that more research on weight loss maintenance is needed, since the average weight loss was greater at one year than at the end of the study.

Further reading:

View the original article here

Why Do People Consider Colonial Penn Life Insurance

 You might buy a Colonial Penn Life Insurance.There are many reasons for it.  Life insurance is a policy that many people do not receive, because they can not afford. You can check, life insurance, invoices, that support behind you, the cost of his funeral and many more.

Life insurance is very important for every body, but  many people do not get life insurance because they can not afford it. The problems come when someone dies, the rest of the family, together with all liabilities of the medical bills, credit cards and other things that the person is. You do not want to his family with a large amount of debt you have to leave. It would be devastating. While these companies can not sue a dead man insurance your spouse can be miserable, or to come to your property, you may be the willingness of family members.

Funerals are also expensive. The funeral costs up to $ 10,000. Can your family afford to pay the funeral expenses? Will you not be buried without advance for what will happen if we find the money? Colonial Penn life insurance can help pay for his funeral when he died, while his family stuck to figure out what to do or how to find the money.
The family members can use the money from your policy in any way think it is correct. This could be defaulted student loans you have, the credit card debt, credit balances and much more. you  can not get ionfromation from The insurance company on  how to spend the winnings.

If one dies and leaves a large amount of debt that borrowers can take advantage immediately of their assets to recover funds owed. If you have a house, land or other property that you want the willingness of family members who do not receive these items. The creditors can not reach everyone. This can help, do not put your family with their debts, goods lost, and be able to pay their funeral expenses.

Related posts: Reasons Why You Need Life InsuranceGrandness Of Cheap Life Insurance QuotesThe Guarantees of a Life InsuranceHow to Obtain Cheap Life Insurance Quotes on the NetWHAT IS LIFE INSURANCE?

View the original article here

Why Do People Consider Colonial Penn Life Insurance

 You might buy a Colonial Penn Life Insurance.There are many reasons for it.  Life insurance is a policy that many people do not receive, because they can not afford. You can check, life insurance, invoices, that support behind you, the cost of his funeral and many more.

Life insurance is very important for every body, but  many people do not get life insurance because they can not afford it. The problems come when someone dies, the rest of the family, together with all liabilities of the medical bills, credit cards and other things that the person is. You do not want to his family with a large amount of debt you have to leave. It would be devastating. While these companies can not sue a dead man insurance your spouse can be miserable, or to come to your property, you may be the willingness of family members.

Funerals are also expensive. The funeral costs up to $ 10,000. Can your family afford to pay the funeral expenses? Will you not be buried without advance for what will happen if we find the money? Colonial Penn life insurance can help pay for his funeral when he died, while his family stuck to figure out what to do or how to find the money.
The family members can use the money from your policy in any way think it is correct. This could be defaulted student loans you have, the credit card debt, credit balances and much more. you  can not get ionfromation from The insurance company on  how to spend the winnings.

If one dies and leaves a large amount of debt that borrowers can take advantage immediately of their assets to recover funds owed. If you have a house, land or other property that you want the willingness of family members who do not receive these items. The creditors can not reach everyone. This can help, do not put your family with their debts, goods lost, and be able to pay their funeral expenses.

Related posts: Reasons Why You Need Life InsuranceGrandness Of Cheap Life Insurance QuotesThe Guarantees of a Life InsuranceHow to Obtain Cheap Life Insurance Quotes on the NetWHAT IS LIFE INSURANCE?

View the original article here

Create-a-Caption: The Noahs are big people in a small car

I love a good small car. I adore old British sports cars, and obsess over sprightly hot hatches. I think the VW Mk II GTi was a thing of beauty, appreciate what Citreon has done over the years, and cannot wait for the Alfa Romeo Giulietta to come stateside.

This is a bit much, though.

This is Joakim Noah(notes), who will have three pictures of himself on BDL before the day is through, and his father Yannick Noah (apparently a tennis player of some renown) dodging around France in what could possibly be described as a poached egg with an internal combustion engine inside it.

Best caption wins a ride down the rue for a har-har-har-oui-oui-oui!

Previously, Avery Johnson was forceful!

Winner, Me (not me, but "Me"): After not answering to Robin for 30 minutes Brook Lopez(notes) is thrown out of practice.

Runner-up, The Devil (actually The Devil, who would have thought?): Avery regaled the young Nets with stories about working with Whoopi Goldberg, but it was his Sammy Davis Jr. impersonation that really failed to impress them.

Second Runner-up, Bill (he calls himself "Nil," but everyone knew her has "Nancy"): The next one that refers to me as Weasel from Family Matters is running suicides!

Related: Brook Lopez, Joakim Noah, Create-a-caption

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