SBCMS News/Media

Free CME: The Doctors Company offers free workshop for physicians

Trial lawyers begin collecting signatures for anti-MICRA ballot initiative

Trial attorneys re-file anti-MICRA ballot initiative

MICRA: Haven't we all seen this before?

For nearly four decades California trial attorneys have been trying to rewrite the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA).

By now, you’ve likely heard the main narrative spun by the trial lawyer-backed Consumer Watchdog and other MICRA opponents – 38 years is too long for a law such as MICRA to exist without being updated in some fashion.

Oddly enough, Consumer Watchdog and others are quick to leave out the fact that the only time MICRA was successfully altered, trial lawyers agreed to back off in exchange for a bigger piece of the pie when it came time to calculate attorney fees.

The update, which took place as part of the now infamous “Napkin Deal,” saw MICRA’s tiered method of calculating attorney fees altered in a way that allowed attorneys to assess fees at a much higher rate than what was originally allowed for under the law. To an outsider, the changes might look subtle, but on a hypothetical award of $600,000, attorney fees following the Napkin Deal would be $161,666. Before the deal, fees would have been only $101,666.

That’s an extra $60,000 going into the pockets of trial lawyers rather than the consumers they swear to be protecting. Adding to the irony is the fact that, in exchange for the larger pay day, trial attorneys promised to stop pushing for changes to MICRA for at least five years.

Now, the same MICRA opponents are calling for reform, using the tagline “38 is too late.” However, nowhere in their campaign literature does it mention that for five of those years, attorneys were sitting on their hands after being bought off in one of the most infamous backroom deals in California’s political history.

It’s also worth mentioning that the entire reason the Napkin Deal took place was that the trial lawyers were threatening to launch a ballot initiative fight if action wasn’t taken by the Legislature.

This all sounds a little familiar, doesn’t it?

In short, the last time trial lawyers called for reforms to MICRA, they found a way to circumvent some of the largest consumer protections built into law and swore to stop advocating for consumers in exchange for a fatter paycheck.

Can we really expect them to behave any differently this time around?

The California Medical Association (CMA) and our allies have amassed more than $28 million to protect MICRA from the trial attorneys’ latest repeal efforts. In August alone, groups such as the California Hospital Association, the Doctor’s Company, the California Dental Association, the Medical Insurance Exchange of California, NORCAL Mutual Insurance Company and the Cooperative of American Physicians have all put up multi-million dollar figures to derail these efforts. Our coalition is strong, but the help of individual CMA members will still go a long way to protect MICRA.

To learn more about MICRA and how you can help in the fight, visit www.cmanet.org/micra.

MICRA Update: Crunch time in the Capitol

A little more than three weeks remain in the 2013 legislative session, which means both sides in the growing fight over California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) are working hard to woo members of the state Assembly and Senate over to their side of the issue.

In the days following the Legislature’s return from its summer recess, the California Medical Association (CMA) and other members of the Californians Allied for Patient Protection began blanketing legislative offices with letters of support for the historic patient and provider protections built into MICRA. So far, representatives from public safety groups, labor organizations, local governments and provider organizations have echoed the same message to California lawmakers:

MICRA is a proven success. It benefits California patients and providers and must be protected by our elected officials.

MICRA supporters will continue their aggressive advocacy in the coming weeks, working to ensure that members of the Legislature are not mislead by deceitful trial attorneys hoping to increase their own bottom line.

Of course, MICRA opponents are also working to win hearts and minds in Sacramento.

Last week, the trial-attorney-backed Consumer Watchdog, the same faux-grassroots organization behind the proposed ballot initiative to scuttle MICRA, hosted a briefing for legislative staffers entitled “38 years later: MICRA and its Casualties - A Case for Change.”

During the briefing, representatives from Consumer Watchdog continued to co-opt the stories of victims of medical negligence in an effort to raise MICRA’s cap on non-economic damages. The briefing was blatant attempt to try and win support for a potential legislative amendment to MICRA, one which would need to take place via an eleventh-hour, gut-and-amend type strategy.

California’s trial attorneys attempted a similar, yet much more narrowly focused, maneuver last legislative session, only to have their bill fail with a remarkably low number of votes. While it remains unlikely that they risk the embarrassment of a similar failure this session, we won’t know for sure until the Legislature gavels out on September 13.

CMA will keep members up-to-date on developments.

In the meantime, MICRA’s most ardent supporters continue to prepare for an all-out-defense of the law. In the month of August alone, groups such as the California Hospital Association, the Doctor’s Company, the California Dental Association, the Medical Insurance Exchange of California, NORCAL Mutual Insurance Company and the Cooperative of American Physicians have all put up multi-million dollar figures to defeat the trial attorney’s proposed ballot initiative.

These donations, along with those made by CMA and other supporters have raised the total sum for the committee dedicated to MICRA’s defense to more than $28 million.

These figures may seem larger than life, but defeating a well-funded initiative campaign is no small task. Every dollar raised in MICRA’s support will be used to ensure that California’s patients have access to quality care and that your practice’s future is not compromised by the greed of the state’s trial attorneys.

CLICK HERE to defend your ability to practice in California.

For more information on MICRA and how you can help, visit www.cmanet.org/micra.

Public trust in physicians an asset in the coming MICRA fight

By now, you’ve likely heard that Consumer Watchdog, a political astroturf group backed heavily by California’s trial attorneys, has thrown its weight behind a ballot initiative that seeks undo major provisions of California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA).

Should MICRA be touched, it would severely limit access to care of millions of patients across the state.

Rest assured, this initiative is misguided and fueled by the trial attorneys' desire to inflate jury awards as a way to increase the legal fees they can collect from their clients.

The California Medical Association (CMA) is ready to meet this challenge, and once again, will defeat this effort to overturn MICRA.

In the coming weeks, however, a good deal of misinformation is likely to be distributed by MICRA opponents and CMA would like its members to know exactly what is at stake in this fight.

As proposed, the initiative being put forward by Consumer Watchdog would retroactively adjust MICRA’s current $250,000 cap on non-economic damages to reflect inflation based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) from the year MICRA’s enabling legislation was passed. This action would raise MICRA’s cap to roughly $1.2 million and allow for further increases based on the CPI going forward.

The initiative also includes a variety of provisions relating to physician drug testing and prescription drugs, but the primary motivation is to lift MICRA’s cap and give California’s trial attorneys access to the massive jury awards they have sought for almost four decades.

While Consumer Watchdog is doing everything in its power to muddle the issue for voters, early polling conducted by CMA suggests that the public trust garnered by physicians will be a large asset in the coming fight.

When asked their impression of both their doctor and community clinic, 91 percent and 70 percent of respective poll responders noted they held a “favorable” impression. Meanwhile, nearly 40 percent of those responding said they held an “unfavorable” position of trial lawyers.

These statistics are encouraging, but in the coming weeks, much more will be done to ensure MICRA is not compromised.

CMA is currently undertaking an aggressive letter-drop campaign in the Capitol, blanketing the offices of newly returning legislators with the facts about MICRA to prevent an eleventh-hour effort to raise the cap legislatively in the final five weeks of session.

As mentioned earlier, CMA will be successful in this fight, but victory will not come overnight, and we will need your help.

As a CMA member, you will be kept in the loop with the latest developments on the MICRA fight through regularly scheduled updates such as this. Until then, I ask that you visit www.cmanet.org/micra for more information about the coming threats, as well as how to donate and help protect California’s historic malpractice protections.

We will emerge from this threat stronger than before, but we cannot do so alone.

CLICK HERE to defend your ability to practice in California.

For more information on MICRA and how you can help, visit www.cmanet.org/micra.