The AANS and CNS support legislation to provide common sense, proven, comprehensive medical liability reform. Federal legislation modeled after the laws in California or Texas, which includes reasonable limits on noneconomic damages, represents the "gold standard." The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has shown that comprehensive medical liability reform would provide $54 billion in savings to the federal government. Other solutions should be adopted including: (1) Applying the Federal Tort Claims Act to services mandated by the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act; (2) liability protections for physicians who volunteer their services; (3) liability protections for physicians who follow practice guidelines set by their specialties; and (4) clarifying that the Affordable Care Act (ACA) did not create any new causes of action. Organized neurosurgery, together with coalitions of medical organizations, is leading the charge to tackle medical liability reform.
Key resources
Letters
Published: January 22, 2015
Dear Senator Cornyn: On behalf of the undersigned medical organizations, representing 450,000 physicians and thepatients they serve, we are pleased to endorse S. 141, the Protecting Seniors’ Access to MedicareAct. […]
Letters
Published: November 16, 2014
Dear Commissioners Praeger and Nickel: The undersigned organizations representing hospitals, physicians, and other health care providersserving both children and adults, as well as health care consumers and other stakeholders, wishto […]
Letters
Published: January 31, 2014
Dear Ms. Burwell: On behalf of organizations dedicated to improving the health and well-being of children and adolescents,we write to thank you for your consistent support for the Pediatric Subspecialty […]
Letters
Published: April 16, 2013
Dear Congressmen Gingrey and Cuellar: On behalf of the Health Coalition on Liability and Access (HCLA), we would like to thank you forsponsoring the Standard of Care Protection Act (H.R. […]
Letters
Dear Representatives Dent and Sessions: On behalf of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and Congress of NeurologicalSurgeons (CNS), we are pleased to support your legislation, H.R. 36, the […]
Letters
Published: February 14, 2013
Subject: Protecting Seniors’ Access to Medicare Act Endorsement Dear Senator Cornyn, On behalf of the undersigned medical organizations, representing over 350,000 physicians and thepatients they serve, we are pleased to […]
Letters
Published: February 12, 2013
Dear Speaker Boehner: We, as members of the Health Coalition on Liability and Access (HCLA), request that you includecomprehensive medical liability reforms in any proposal to address our nation’s debt […]
Letters
Published: February 8, 2013
RE: Support of S. 236, the “Medicare Patient Empowerment Act” Dear Senator Murkowski: As the Alliance of Specialty Medicine (Alliance), our mission is to advocate for soundfederal health care policy […]
Article
Published: January 1, 2013
REFORMING THE REFORM ABOLISH THE INDEPENDENT PAYMENT ADVISORY BOARD (IPAB)Established by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA), the IPAB is a 15-member government board whosemembers are appointed by […]
Letters
Published: January 1, 2013
Dear Editor: There is widespread agreement that our medical liability system is broken(“Defensive Medicine May be Costlier than it Seems,” by Amitabh Chandra,Anupam B. Jena And Seth A. Seabury, February […]
Letters
Published: January 1, 2013
Dear Editor: In the June 20 op-ed on p. A-21 by David Rivkin and Elizabeth Foley, “An ObamaCare BoardAnswerable to No One,” the authors hit the nail on the head […]
Letters
Published: August 28, 2012
RE: Classification of posterior cervical screws, including pedicle and lateralmass screws [Docket No. FDA–2012–N–0001] FDA Orthopaedic andRehabilitation Devices Panel of the Medical Devices Advisory Committee Dear Ms. Anderson: The American […]
Letters
Dear Senator Coburn,On behalf of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) and the Congress ofNeurological Surgeons (CNS), representing 4,000 practicing neurosurgeons in the United States, we arepleased to support […]
Article
Published: January 1, 2012
U.S. Supreme Court Upholds Individual Mandate to Buy Health Insurance; Rejects Medicaid ExpansionRequirements WASHINGTON, D.C. (June 28, 2012) — On June 28, 2012, in a 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme […]
