Amarin Corp Plc (AMRN)

[smarterer]

JL,

I agree that malpractice reform is needed, but we alo need insurance reform. I have a running buddy who was my PCP until I moved away, and he runs a one-doc office. Malpractice is challenging, due to the insurance rates (which I don't hold insurance companies fully liable for; lawyers are more to blame there, though insurance isn't angelic, either). However, the bigger challenge he faces is the myriad coding differences for the same procedure among different insurers and medicare/medicaid. Each has its own coding and criteria, and if you miscode payment will be delayed or denied altogether.

One of the outcomes of this is that in Bellingham, WA where he practices Peace Health has taken over almost all practices. He would not make it if he didn't have his wife and a couple of his grown kids working the office for him. I think some standardization of procedure coding might be an example of effective, positive regulation over the current system. As it is, coding mistakes--or simply audits by insurers looking to not pay legitimate claims--in the end get passed on to everyone, and/or drive doctors out of business or to more lucrative practices, to the detriment of most of us wanting a good GP and struggling to find one.