Michigan Physicians Gather in Lansing, ask Lawmakers to Put Patients First, Act to Prevent Physician Shortage
Patients First Reform Package will Protect Patients, Make Michigan a More Appealing State for Doctors to Start, Maintain a Practice
LANSING, MI – July 18, 2012 — Physicians from across Michigan today will gather at the state Capital to ask lawmakers to support a package of common sense tort reform legislation that put patients first and have the ability to make Michigan a more appealing state in which to start a practice and treat residents, seniors, children and families.
The Senate Insurance Committee is expected to vote on the Patients First Reform Package as early as Wednesday.
WHAT: Senate Insurance Committee Hearing on Patients First Reform Package
WHO: Michigan Physicians
WHEN: Wednesday, July 18 at 8:00 AM
WHERE: Boji Tower in Downtown Lansing, 124 West Allegan Street, 1st Floor
“Physicians are gathering in Lansing to stand up for their patients and to ensure local doctors can continue to meet the health care needs of Michigan seniors, children and families,” said John Bizon, M.D., President of the Michigan State Medical Society, which represents more than 16,000 Michigan physicians. “The Patients First Reform package empowers physicians to put their patients first and to ensure Michigan patients will always have access to quality care.”
Studies project that by 2020 the state of Michigan will have a physician shortage of over 4,500 doctors in fields like pediatrics, family practice, and general and internal medicine. Many of Michigan’s cities and urban areas with the largest populations are already underserved and access to physicians in these areas could become even more difficult to obtain without action.
The “Patients First Reform Package” being considered Wednesday by the Senate Insurance Committee will:
- Close a confusing legal loophole that allows unnecessary suits to be filed, a solution Michigan Justices have been asking for;
- Require legal disclosures from trial lawyers, preventing them from using a loop hole into default judgments against physicians by failing to notify them when they are the subject of a lawsuit;
- Protect patients by bringing more health care professionals under medical malpractice guidelines;
- Put patients first, not their lawyers, by preventing trial lawyers from artificially inflating awards; and more.
The Michigan State Medical Society is a professional association of more than 16,000 Michigan physicians. Its mission is to promote a health care environment which supports physicians in caring for, and enhancing the health of Michigan citizens through science, quality, and ethics in the practice of medicine. Please visit www.msms.org/ for more information.
