Professional liability reform and access to Medicaid obstetric care in New York State

Professional liability costs and fear of lawsuits have made participation in Medicaid difficult for office-based physicians who provide prenatal care, both obstetricians and family physicians. We assessed the possible impact of changes in three liability policy reforms on expanding access of Medicaid-eligible pregnant women to these private physicians. We surveyed members of the New York State District of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the New York Academy of Family Physicians to explore whether they would start, expand, or resume obstetric service to Medicaid patients in response to a ceiling on litigation awards, no-fault insurance and a subsidy for liability expenses. We then compared the reported increases in participation on the basis of liability reforms to those in response to changes in Medicaid policies. We found in general that the three liability reforms would have similar impacts on Medicaid participation, although a subsidy was indicated by fewer physicians than the ceiling or no-fault approaches. The support for the liability reforms was as effective as proposals of greater reimbursement rates. The proportion of obstetricians or family physicians increasing their participation depended more on whether they would be starting Medicaid participation, expanding existing Medicaid participation or resuming former Medicaid participation than on the particular liability policy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)