Pledge your commitment to protect MICRA With less than 200 days left until the 2014 general election, the California Medical Association (CMA) is working hard to educate every physician in California about the efforts underway to defeat the trial lawyer-backed anti-MICRA ballot measure. Ensuring that each and every California physician understands the importance of our state's landmark Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) remains one of CMA's top priorities. The ballot measure being pushed by trial lawyers would increase health care costs for everyone in California and decrease access to care – which is why such ... April 21, 2014 General Professional Liability, MICRA 0 0 Comment Read More »
Labor unions announce opposition to MICRA lawsuit initiative This week, two major labor unions announced their strong opposition to the trial attorneys' anti-MICRA ballot initiative. The unions – AFSCME California PEOPLE, the statewide political and legislative arm of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, AFL-CIO, representing 179,000 members across California, and the Union of American Physicians and Dentists (UAPD), AFSCME Local 206, the largest union representing working doctors in the nation – announced their opposition in a press release. Both groups said it was clear that the initiative served the interests of lawyers, not ... April 16, 2014 General MICRA 0 0 Comment Read More »
Anti-MICRA signatures to be submitted today Today, Consumer Watchdog and the state’s trial attorneys announced that by the end of the day they will be submitting signatures in county registrar of voters offices across the state, setting in motion a validation process that will likely land an initiative aimed at gutting California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) on the November ballot. Under California’s constitution, parties seeking to place an initiative on the 2014 statewide ballot are required to submit slightly more than 500,000 valid signatures to registrars of voters in the counties where those signatures ... March 27, 2014 General MICRA, Advocacy 0 0 Comment Read More »
Report says CURES database provisions in MICRA ballot measure cannot be implemented Today, the Patients, Providers and Healthcare Insurers to Protect Access & Contain Health Costs campaign released a report that raises serious doubts about whether a key provision of the trial lawyers' proposed anti-MICRA ballot measure can be feasibly implemented. Even worse, according to the report, the ballot measure would put physicians and pharmacists in the impossible position of choosing between denying or delaying needed prescription medication to legitimately suffering patients and violating the law. In addition to more than quadrupling MICRA's cap on non-economic damages, the trial attorneys' proposed initiative would ... March 17, 2014 General CURES, MICRA, Professional Liability 0 0 Comment Read More »
Become an official opponent of anti-MICRA ballot initiative If you haven't already, please take a moment to sign up to be an official opponent of a possible November 2014 ballot measure being pushed by trial lawyers that would significantly weaken California's Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) and increase lawsuits against doctors, community clinics, health centers, hospitals and other health care providers. It only takes a moment to join and add your and/or your organization's name to the official list of opponents to this greed-fueled initiative. Once you do, you also will receive regular email updates from the ... February 7, 2014 General MICRA, Professional Liability, Grassroots Advocacy 0 0 Comment Read More »
Los Angeles Daily News publishes op-ed by CMA president The Los Angeles Daily News yesterday published an op-ed by Richard Thorp, M.D., president of the California Medical Association (CMA). In case you missed it, the piece, "Trial lawyer measure would undermine the promise of Covered California," can be read here. January 31, 2014 General MICRA 0 0 Comment Read More »
MICRA patient brochure now available in Spanish The California Medical Association (CMA)-led coalition working to protect California’s landmark Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) has published a patient education brochure to help inform California voters about the ballot initiative being pushed by trial attorneys. The ballot measure would impact access to care for patients, causing community health centers and physician offices across the state to close. The pamphlet, available in English and Spanish, can be distributed to patients during office visits and will be accompanied by talking points for physicians so you can have meaningful conversations with ... January 31, 2014 General MICRA, Patient Education, Professional Liability 0 0 Comment Read More »
Senate pro Tem considering MICRA legislation As both sides inch closer to a seemingly inevitable ballot war over California’s Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA), a key figure in the legislature may be looking to step in before voters can weigh in on the issue. Earlier this month, Darrell Steinberg, president pro tem of the Senate, said that he was “thinking” about carrying a MICRA-related bill during the 2014 cycle. While Steinberg has previously stated that he wanted to see negotiations take place to avoid a costly ballot war between trial lawyers and physicians, the ... January 27, 2014 General Medical Liability, MICRA, Professional Liability 0 0 Comment Read More »
Trial lawyers begin collecting signatures for anti-MICRA ballot initiative Driven by greed and the promise of inflated attorney fees, California trial lawyers have renewed their fight to lift the Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act (MICRA) cap on speculative, non-economic damages, presenting ballot language that seeks to more than quadruple the maximum award for non-economic damages to roughly $1.1 million. If successful, these efforts would be devastating to California’s health care system. More meritless lawsuits will lead to reduced patient access to our health care professionals – and fewer options for affordable, quality health care – especially in rural and ... December 3, 2013 General Advocacy, MICRA, Professional Liability, Medical Malpractice 0 0 Comment Read More »
House of Delegates Highlights House of Delegates acts on hospital care The California Medical Association (CMA) House of Delegates has voted to take action on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS) "outpatient patient observation" status, finding it to be a practice that places undue financial burden on patients, complicates the practice of medicine and often results in physicians receiving reduced payments for services provided. ​Resolution 211-13, which received strong support on the floor of the House, was submitted as an emergency resolution and asked that CMA request that CMS eliminate its "outpatient patient ... October 14, 2013 General Advocacy, California Political Action Committee, CALPAC, Electronic Health Record, Health Information Technology, MICRA, Professional Liability, EHR, House of Delegates, Insurance/Reimbursement 0 0 Comment Read More »
