Hidden in false concern about patient safety, CMS enacted “Never Events” that actually were about budget cutting. They were actually “Never Pay Events”. But the false impression of such a denial is that someone is guilty of malpractice, when that is not necessarily true. Obamacare regulations and private insurance payment rules could likewise be used to insinuate that a provider is guilty of malpractice when the standards are payment standards, not standards of care.
Georgia has enacted a shield law to protect physicians from payment standards being used to shoe-horn cases into malpractice claims and requires standard of care testimony from qualified witnesses must be used. Introduction of the payment regulations would not be allowed without expert testimony validating the regulations against the standard of care.
The new law provides “The development, recognition or implementation of any guideline by any public or private payor or the establishment of any payment standard or reimbursement criteria under any federal laws or regulations related to healthcare shall not be construed, without competent expert testimony establishing the appropriate standard of care, to establish a legal basis for negligence or the standard of care or duty of care owed by a healthcare provider to a patient in any civil action for medical malpractice or product liability…”
This language is a necessary defense against the avalanche of payment regulations that is about to descend upon healthcare providers under healthcare reform.