Bill > H1309

This bill aims to improve patient safety and medical error reporting by making several changes to existing laws. It clarifies that offering expert testimony in medical malpractice cases constitutes the practice of medicine, and it requires insurers and risk management organizations providing coverage to physicians to submit annual reports to the Betsy Lehman Center for Patient Safety and Medical Error Reduction. These reports will detail the top categories of losses and claims, as well as the most frequent and costly defendant specialties, to help the Center develop evidence-based practices to reduce medical errors. The bill also modifies provisions related to medical malpractice lawsuits, including requiring expert witnesses to be board-certified in the same specialty as the defendant physician, allowing for future damages to be paid in periodic installments rather than a lump sum if they exceed $50,000, and stipulating that each defendant's liability for damages will be several, meaning they are only responsible for their proportionate share of fault.