Study finds that coordinating care of chronically ill patients does not increase...( care coordination by physicians he s...),Health

Physicians worry about liability because "coordinating care creates a broader responsibility for patients with complex conditions who have a greater chance of poor outcomes."

"Based on the collective experience and judgment of experts in medical liability, however, there does not appear to be any basis for physicians who perform care coordination to have serious concerns about liability," Hall and his colleagues concluded. Patients with chronic illness are not more likely to sue. Also, courts will not hold primary care physicians automatically responsible for mistakes made by specialists just because the primary care physician is coordinating the patient's care.

"Courts hold doctors responsible only for what the doctor does, and not what other doctors might do wrong," Hall explained.

Instead of increasing liability, care coordination may lower liability risks. "Every medical function carries some liability risk and care coordination is no exception, but the extent of these risks appears to be broadly commensurate with other risks to primary care practice," the authors write.

Hall's coauthors were Ralph A. Peebles, J.D., professor of law, and Richard W. Lord Jr., M.D., assistant professor of family and community medicine, both at Wake Forest Baptist.

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Contact: Robert Conn
rconn@wfubmc.edu
336-716-4587
Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
29-Mar-2005