Georgia has seen it's first decrease in malpractice premiums since the passage of tort reforms in 2005. By most accounts, Georgia is an attractive place to practice medicine. Taking into account factors such as favorable doctor-to-patient ratio, improving reimbursement rates and an increasingly doctor-friendly malpractice environment, the state should continue to become an enticing physician environment into the future.
Perhaps the greatest encouragement to doctors considering the option of opening a Georgia practice is that the state is experiencing its first decline in malpractice premiums since the passage of tort reforms in 2005. One of Georgia's largest physician liability carriers lowered its rates by 5 percent in 2008, its first premium decrease since the state's passage of tort reforms in 2005, and the company had maintained flat, stable rates the two previous years.
Georgia has traditionally been ranked as one of the 20 states the American Medical Association has considered in crisis due to rising medical liability costs. The 2008 premium decrease could signify an improvement in the state's liability climate.
The declining rates come three years after the passage of Georgia Senate Bill 3 (SB3), a tort reform bill signed into law that had significant impact upon Georgia's medical malpractice laws. The bill specifically placed a $350,000 cap on pain-and-suffering awards, redefined the provisions of venue and forum as well as joint and several liability, tightened the rules for experts testifying against doctors and set up incentives for patients to settle out of court.
Aside from the cap on non-economic, pain-and-suffering damages, the bill's most consequential provisions are its articles that define requirements for expert testimony and restrict venue shopping. The significance of these two provisions is as follows:
According to the United States Census Bureau, Atlanta has been the fastest-growing city in the nation since 2000, with a gain of nearly 900,000 residents to 5.1 million, and statewide, Georgia ranks in the top five fastest-growing populations. In addition, Atlanta is home to the fastest-growing millionaire population, which is anticipated to increase 69 percent through 2011, to approximately 103,000 households with more than $1 million or more in investable assets.
While Georgia ranks ninth in U.S. population, it ranks 39th in total physicians per 100,000 citizens. On average, only about one-third of the state's medical school graduates stay in Georgia to complete their residency training.
While this doctor-to-population ratio evidences that the citizens of Georgia have had above-average difficulty in access to healthcare, it also indicates a range of viable practice and specialty opportunities are available to physicians. In short, new practices are being courted and encouraged.
These practice opportunities are especially positive for bilingual, Spanish-speaking physicians, as Georgia boasts the third fastest-growing Latino community in the country.
As is the case in most states nationwide, Georgia physicians complain that Medicare/Medicaid as well as private insurer reimbursement rates do not keep pace with inflation and ever-increasing overhead costs-of-doing-business.
Medicaid reimbursement for physicians in the state currently ranks below the national average, but the Governor's Medicaid reimbursement rates for the fiscal year 2009 include a cost coverage increase from 95.1 percent to 98.6 percent for hospital inpatient services and 100 percent of cost for outpatient services. In fiscal 2009, $39.6 million will go towards increasing Medicaid reimbursement rates; nursing homes will receive $17.6 million in reimbursements for capital upgrades; and an additional $31.3 million is appropriated to upgrade the state’s mental health facilities and community mental health system.
