Doctors Staying In West Virginia

The Register-Herald, August 28, 2005

WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS - Medical malpractice tort reform and better insurance rates are keeping doctors in West Virginia and attracting new doctors, according to West Virginia's top insurance official.

"Doctors are staying in West Virginia," Insurance Commissioner Jane Cline told a group of physicians Friday. "We are slightly below the national average in retaining doctors, but this is not unusual for rural areas."
Cline said laws that created the Physicians Mutual - designed to give medical malpractice insurance to doctors - and tort reform in third-party bad faith are working to stem the tide of doctors leaving the state.

She said medical malpractice claims against doctors have continued to drop since 2002. Data provided by the West Virginia State Medical Association show that claims were reduced by 46 percent statewide in 2004.

In Raleigh County, 21 medical malpractice suits were filed in 2002 and only five have been filed this year.

"We believe it's working," Cline said.

WVSMA Director Evan Jenkins, in a recent newsletter to doctors, said the total number of lawsuits filed in 2004 was 130, down from 315 filed the previous year. The 2005 numbers exclude Putnam County, where several lawsuits have been filed concerning the activities of one doctor who has already left the state.

"Claims are down significantly," Jenkins said. "It shows the legislative reforms are having a positive impact in weeding out meritless lawsuits."

Cline said 1,640 doctors are now participating in the Physicians Mutual, which represents 56 percent of the total market share of all carriers.

"The (mutual) is doing really well and their financial situation is good," she said. "Not every single physician is getting insured, but it's operating as a company."

Cline also wanted to dispel a myth she believes has been created on why insurance rates for doctors increased in the past.

"The rates did not go up previously because of losses in the stock market by insurance companies," she said. "What actually causes the insurance rates to go up are costs of doing business."

Cline said new doctors are coming to the state because they see West Virginia as a more favorable place to practice now that medical malpractice insurance rates have been stabilized.