100s of orgs be part of collectively to oppose evaluate that would devastate health and fitness care shipping and delivery in CA







February 15, 2022

The California Medical Association (CMA) and its community county health-related societies have joined collectively with hundreds of companies in opposing the so-named Fairness for Wounded People Act (FIPA) since it will devastate our well being care shipping technique, hurt local community overall health centers and raise health care fees for ALL Californians. 

For quite a few several years, California’s medical liability procedure has been safeguarded by a bipartisan collection of legal guidelines called MICRA (Professional medical Injury Payment Reform Act), which has balanced the rights of wounded individuals though trying to keep wellbeing treatment more accessible and economical for all patients.

FIPA will be on the ballot this November and, if passed, will efficiently reduce MICRA’s protections. Funded by a rich out-of-condition demo attorney, this proposition would be a windfall for attorneys at the cost of California’s most susceptible patients.  

MICRA makes sure that injured patients acquire payment whilst preserving access to wellness care by keeping companies in practice and hospitals and clinics open. Devoid of MICRA’s protections, lots of of California’s neediest populations could experience lessened obtain to these much-wanted companies.

This flawed initiative would:

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  • Remove the cap on equally non-financial damages and attorneys’ service fees. The initiative creates a new classification of injuries that are not presently regarded under California regulation. This new, broadly described category of malpractice lawsuits permits for limitless attorneys’ costs and limitless non-economic damages. 
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  • Reward lawyers right before sufferers. Present regulation permits for clients to be paid for long term damages above time as their remedy and recovery carries on. This evaluate requires all damages to be paid out in a substantial lump sum and improves the danger that people could operate out of dollars in advance of their restoration is finish. These lump-sum payments make it possible for demo lawyers to gather extra in charges.
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  • Consequence in much more, not fewer frivolous lawsuits. In contrast to other judicial transparency legislation in California, this evaluate would expressly prohibit judges from independently verifying the truthfulness of statements produced by demo attorneys in sure court filings regarded as “certificates of merit” and from disciplining them for dishonesty. 
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In accordance to the non-partisan Legislative Analyst’s Office environment, this flawed initiative will drive up health care expenses for all Californians by tens of tens of millions “to high hundreds of thousands and thousands of bucks on a yearly basis.” This initiative would obliterate current safeguards for clinical lawsuits — resulting in skyrocketing wellness care fees and huge windfalls for lawyers. 

This is not the initially try to change MICRA, but it is the most harming. Now, CMA and hundreds of other businesses are element of a developing coalition to defeat FIPA this November.

The foreseeable future of MICRA is on the line. We know that by means of our collective attempts, we can defeat this harmful measure and guarantee continued entry to care for thousands and thousands of Californians.

We will need your enable to educate millions of Californians about the

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Pandemic stress, cyberattacks are compounding degradation of care delivery

This past September, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency published a report designed to assess the health of the nation’s hospitals and health systems.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the report, “‘Provide Medical Care’ is in Critical Condition: Analysis and  Stakeholder Decision Support to Minimize Further Harm,” doesn’t offer encouraging news.

It finds the nationwide infrastructure enabling provision of medical care – one of CISA’s 55 national critical functions – severely strained by the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting clinical, financial, workforce and supply chain challenges.

The concurrent cyber-pandemic of rampant ransomware and nation-state skullduggery has only compounded the difficulties faced by providers.

As the report notes: “Beyond the obvious consequences of disruptions to diagnostic, testing and treatment equipment, even minor reductions in efficiency caused by cyber-incidents compound to increase staff workload and degrade the system’s ability to provide medical care.”

At the upcoming HIMSS Healthcare Cybersecurity Forum, which kicks off next Monday, a CISA researcher will unpack the recent report – and offer some suggestions for how his agency can support struggling healthcare organizations.

To preview his session, “Healthcare is in Critical Condition,” Josh Corman, who has long IT security and public policy experience in the private sector and joined CISA this past year under the CARES Act as a senior advisor and strategist, spoke with Healthcare IT News about the report and what it means.

“We do regular, routine analysis of risk to the nation’s critical infrastructure and national critical functions throughout the pandemic,” Corman explained, noting that the assessment is both qualitative and quantitative. “This analysis is done for government stakeholders and decision-support within CISA, DHS and across agencies like HHS and CDC.”

Like many of the 55 other national critical functions during this time of upheaval – they include operate government, generate electricity, provide wireless access network services and maintain access to medical records – the NCF known as provide medical care “has been severely strained, stressed at various points throughout the pandemic.”

Aimed at various stakeholders – hospital leaders, healthcare providers, cybersecurity and IT professionals – the report explores several matters that most who have experienced the past two years “suspected or possibly or probably thought were intuitive,” Corman said. “But now we’ve got some hard data to show the impacts that are affecting their organizations.”

The report explores several areas of stress and strains for providers. For instance, Corman explained, “We have the first data sizing of the relationship, the correlation between IC bed utilization and excess deaths two, four and six weeks later.”

“It’s a novel set of findings, and it’s much different than, say, pre-pandemic excess death rates by sizing the shape of that curve. We hope to make sure that people who are making choices about hospital utilization are armed with this newer consequence information.”

The strains on the care delivery system – and the excess deaths they cause – can have severe upstream effects on broader infrastructure, workforce and, potentially, national security.

“An analysis of

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