|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
Re: Illinois physicians profiled on states new Web siteFrom: Henry Gregor (henrygregor@yahoo.com)Wed Apr 9 11:01:09 2008
Perhaps the doctors could set up a site listing those patients and their attorneys initiating medmal suits settled in favor of defendant physicians...that way other patients would be able to see just who among their friends and neighbors are contributing to community health costs. It would also alert md's as to patients who need a full range of assessments and consultative services to protect the "health" of the practice and the ability of the physician to remain available to provide services to the public...TIC....H Rafael Haciski <haciski@earthlink.net> wrote: How come the lawyers are not listed? Or did I miss that listing? Rafael Haciski MD FACOG Anchor Health Centers GYN 800 Goodlette Rd #360 239-643-8780 office 239-571-0292 cell Naples, FL. On Apr 8, 2008, at 9:06 AM, Dean Huffman . wrote: . Illinois physicians profiled on state’s new Web site By DEAN OLSEN, STAFF WRITER Tuesday, April 08, 2008 More information about Illinois’ doctors, including out-of-court settlements of malpractice lawsuits, is now available on a new Web site operated by the state. Advertisement The physician profiles available at http://www.idfpr.com provide that information and much more data that previously wasn’t available in one place on the Internet, such as doctors’ specialties, education, hospital affiliations and whether they accept Medicaid, All Kids or certain types of private insurance. That information is reported by doctors, who must keep it current to continue practicing. The site also lists information the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation previously hadn’t made public, such as any felony convictions for the past five years, serious misdemeanor convictions, and the most controversial data — the most recent five years of malpractice judgments and settlements. The president of the Sangamon County Medical Society hopes that patients looking for doctors won’t rule out certain practitioners simply because of malpractice settlements listed. “I don’t think that most physicians are opposed to people knowing about this information,” Dr. J. Eric Bleyer said Monday. “The problem is people interpreting this information.” He added, however, that any potential drawbacks of the physician profile Web site — which went online for the first time late last week — are more than offset by the short- and long-term benefits of caps on medical-malpractice judgments against doctors and hospitals. Those caps, and the newly published data about doctors, were part of the same 2005 legislation that was passed by the Illinois General Assembly and signed into law byGov. Rod Blagojevich. The governor, in a news release, said: “It’s not enough to make sure every Illinois family has access to health care. We need to make sure that people have enough information to make informed decisions about the doctors who treat them.” A proponent of the new profile information, state Rep. Mary Flowers, D-Chicago, said patients deserve the data, can give proper weight to the malpractice case information and use it in discussions with doctors. “You are purchasing a service,” she said. “You should be able to know some background. It’s really just an introduction to a person you’re about to expose your naked body and soul to.” Susan Hofer, spokeswoman for the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which runs the Web site, said the doctor profiles received 77,200 “hits” over the weekend. “There’s a definite desire to know more about the doctors who treat us,” she said. The legislation creating the public database also created caps on non-economic damages such as “pain and suffering” — $500,000 for doctors and $1 million for hospitals. Those caps have been challenged in a Cook County case pending in front of the Illinois Supreme Court. But the database remains in effect even though it could be shut down if the high court throws out the caps and the rest of the legislation. The DFPR, on its Web site, previously listed disciplines taken by the department against the state’s 44,000 licensed physicians. Malpractice judgments are public in courthouses, but many settlements of malpractice lawsuits are handled out of court and haven’t been available to the public anywhere, until now. The Web site lists the settlement amount, the date and the county involved, with the data provided by courts and insurance companies. Springfield resident Jeri Frederick, 52, a single mother who works as a professional trainer at the University of Illinois at Springfield, said the criminal, malpractice and insurance data “would be helpful” in choosing a doctor. She said she wouldn’t rule out a doctor with a malpractice settlement, “because we have a society that is ‘lawsuit happy.’ I don’t think it should be the last word. It should be a guideline for you to look for more information.” Flowers said she sponsored physician-profile legislation for more than a decade, without success, until she was able to get inserted it into the compromise bill that received support from the Illinois State Medical Society. The medical society previously opposed publishing physician profiles, specifically the malpractice case information, she said. A growing number of states are making the information public, she said, and she agreed with Bleyer that the settlement of a malpractice case doesn’t necessarily mean a doctor is inept. “It’s just a snapshot,” she said, adding that she will work to pass legislation to broaden the profile database to include other health professionals such as dentists and chiropractors. Bleyer said some doctors, such as neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons and obstetricians, are more likely to be sued because they attract patients with complicated health problems who are more likely to experience complications. And even a malpractice judgment against a doctor may not mean he or she is a bad doctor, Bleyer said. Dr. Ronald Romanelli, a Springfield orthopedic surgeon, said the state Web site could help him in screening potential new doctors for his medical group, Orthopaedic Center of Illinois. He had no strong feeling about whether public reporting of malpractice settlements is a good thing. But Romanelli, 53, who said he’s never been sued for malpractice, believes some doctors could lose patients when the information becomes public. “Unfortunately, there are bad circumstances and situations where patients have a bad outcome,” he said, “and it’s not always where the physician is the problem.” Dean Olsen can be reached at 788-1543. http://www.sj-r.com/News/stories/28268.asp Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around
|
|
Return to
|
Mail a New Message to the Forum: ob-gyn-l@obgyn.net Forum Administrator: geffrey.klein@obgyn.net Report Technical Problems: webmaster@obgyn.net Last Updated: Tue Dec 2 04:56:05 2008 |
The American Medical Association is no longer designating CME hours for AMA Category II CME credit. However, physicians themselves may self designate learning activities as Category II CME credit hours if they feel it is of sufficient educational merit and meets the formal definitions of continuing medical education. OBGYN.net believes these interaction in this forum meets these criteria. For further information see the AMA web site.