MOKENA, Ill., Sept. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Provena Health leaders report that 91 percent of the 3,600 Illinois residents they had surveyed recently are concerned about the rising cost of medical malpractice insurance for physicians -- 69 percent are very concerned.
“It is clear that people in the communities our hospitals serve are acutely aware that rising malpractice rates are forcing physicians to rethink and sometimes change their practice of medicine,” said William T. Foley, president and CEO of the Catholic health system. “This issue has reduced access to needed care for many people and not just in down-state Illinois, but in the Chicago suburbs as well.”
Foley pointed out that approximately 20 physicians at Provena Health’s six Illinois hospitals have retired, relocated to another state, or restricted the procedures they will do as a result of rising malpractice rates.
Five of the system’s six hospitals have no neurosurgeons on staff that will perform brain surgery. This means, for example, that auto accident victims with significant head trauma must be taken elsewhere for treatment, sometimes at considerable distances and at increased risk to their health.
“This is a real issue for our communities, and I urge our state’s elected officials to continue to seek a solution,” he said.
Possible Solutions Surveyed
Those surveyed were also asked whether they favor or oppose two suggested proposals for reducing the cost of malpractice insurance. Some 70 percent favor capping punitive damages to plaintiffs while 82 percent favor limiting attorney fees. And 65 percent favored both.
Varying Levels of Concern
Generally, the older a person, the more likely he or she is “very concerned” about the issue, according to Kevin Rose, Provena Health’s marketing director who oversaw the research project, which was conducted by an outside firm.
“Just over half (51 percent) of respondents in the 18-34 age group were ‘very concerned,’ while more than three-fourths (76 percent) of people surveyed in the 65-plus age group were ‘very concerned,’” said Rose.
Women were slightly more concerned than men, he added. Regionally, the percentages of those “very concerned” ranged from 64 percent in Urbana to 76 percent in Joliet.
People were surveyed by phone in and around the cities where Provena Health’s hospitals are located, namely Aurora, Danville, Elgin, Joliet, Kankakee and Urbana. The combined numbers give the survey a confidence factor of plus or minus two percentage points.
More detailed information on these results is available at the Provena Health website at http://www.provenahealth.com/ .
About Provena Health
Provena Health is a Catholic health system that includes six hospitals, 16 long-term care and senior residential facilities, 28 clinics, five home health agencies and other health-related activities operating in Illinois and Indiana.
Provena Health
CONTACT: Clinton Giese of Provena Health, +1-708-478-6356,ClintonCGiese@ProvenaHealth.com
Web site: http://www.provenahealth.com/
