Common Good and the Harvard School of Public Health, who have been advocating for the creation of special health courts, will be webcasting their upcoming event, Health Courts and Administrative Compensation: Opportunities for Safety Enhancement.
Key elements of the health court model include: trained judges, court-appointed neutral expert witnesses, schedules for non-economic damages, reliance on evidence-based practice guidelines, and strong links to patient safety mechanisms. The goal behind this reform is to create a reliable system that sends consistent signals to providers about what constitutes appropriate care, lowers administrative costs, and improves patient safety and the quality of care.
Speakers at the event include: Harvard School of Public Health Professors David Studdert and Michelle Mello, Dr. Dennis O’Leary, President of the Joint Commission on the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), and Massachusetts State Senator Robert O’Leary. These speakers and others will discuss how an administrative approach to injury compensation could enhance safety and quality, as well as legal and policy issues likely to be raised by proposed demonstration projects.
The webcast will begin at 1 p.m. EST on Wednesday, November 8th. Access the webcast and more information here. An archive of the webcast will be available for one month.
Here at Kevin, M.D., I have been supporting health courts as one sensible solution to the malpractice problems plaguing our health care system. Some past articles highlight how this approach makes sense:
David Studdert’s testimony for Common Good in June, 2006
Health courts debated in the Senate
The USA Today supports health courts
