At the end of Episode 7, Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr, the Fixing Healthcare podcast hosts, read three ideas and suggestions from listeners, courtesy of the Fixing Healthcare Survey.
This will be a regular feature from now on, so please take the survey. Your suggestions might be shared with thousands of Fixing Healthcare listeners during upcoming episodes.
For now, here’s what Gary Nolan, Dan Thomas and Karina (whose last name was not provided) told us about fixing healthcare:
From Fixing Healthcare (Episode 7)
Robert Pearl: After interviewing six of the top names in medicine during Season One, we wanted to know what our listeners had to say, so we invited our audience to take the first-ever “Survey To Fix American healthcare,” which can be found on my website, www.robertpearlmd.com. We received nearly 200 responses over the past month.
Jeremy Corr: Today we’d like to thank those of you who wrote in about tort reform, an essential ingredient for fixing healthcare. We heard from Karina who told us that tort reform, “Has to be on the list or none of the solutions for Fixing Healthcare will ever work.” She says, “Doctors have to feel safe in order to stop practicing defensive medicine.” Dan Thomas wrote us calling for, “a cap on medical malpractice claims” while Gary Nolan noted that, “It’s often cheaper for doctors and insurance companies to pay fraudulent claims than to fight them.” He added, “Tort reform would also mean better defining malpractice.”
Robert Pearl: I agree with the listeners on this one. The current malpractice legal system is even more broken than the American healthcare system. Study after study has shown that the malpractice system doesn’t improve clinical quality or patient safety, all it does is raise the cost of medical care. And when patients deserve compensation for the harm they’ve experienced, we know that as much as 40% of the awards go to the attorneys, not the families. Today countries like Sweden, Denmark, and New Zealand employ a no-fault approach to medical malpractice.
We believe that would be far better, a far better solution than the flawed system we have in America today. Once again, thanks to Gary Nolan, Dan Thomas, Karina, and everyone who participated in the survey to fix American healthcare. We also invite you to visit robertpearlmd.com to leave your comments, and we will read more on next month’s Fixing Healthcare show.
READ: Full transcript of Episode 7 with Dr. Devi Shetty
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Fixing Healthcare is a co-production of Dr. Robert Pearl and Jeremy Corr. Subscribe to the show via Apple Podcasts or wherever you find podcasts. Join the conversation or suggest a guest by following the show on Twitter and LinkedIn.