By Elizabeth Hong
Rising costs of malpractice insurance are causing many Utah obstetricians to leave their practices.
A recent statistic from the Utah Medical Association shows the average rates for malpractice insurance in Utah have increased 94 percent in the past four years.
Insurance costs four years ago averaged $42,000 a year. The current average is $81,628, according the Utah Medical Association statistic.
The issue is being tossed back and forth in Congress. A bill that would have protected some obstetricians from pain-and-suffering damages, which are partially to blame for the rising insurance costs, was defeated last week. Had the bill passed, a cap could have been placed on the monetary amount of both lost wages and medical expenses.
Robin Cohoon, service representative at Intermountain Health Care, said the insurance rates are rising for multiple reasons.
'The amount of losses there are and the judgments given are a cause, and the pain and suffering losses are outrageous,' Cohoon said.
She also said Utah does not have mandatory arbitration, and states that do have mandatory arbitration generally have lower insurance rates.
Arbitration committees meet to decide if a malpractice claim is legitimate enough to have a trial, Cohoon said. Arbitration committees used to be mandatory in Utah, but the law was recently changed. Cohoon said optional arbitration has made a difference in the insurance rates.
Natalie Roberts, administrative assistant of primary care programs at the University Health Sciences Center, said the clinic faced some repercussions from the malpractice insurance costs. At the University of Utah''s Family Health Clinics, many doctors have been forced to quit the obstetrics aspect of their jobs because of the high insurance costs.
'Several faculty members had to give up their OB practices,' she said.
Last year the clinic had about 17 doctors practicing obstetrics, Roberts said.
'This year the clinic is down to seven practicing obstetricians,' she said.
The Moab Regional Medical Clinic is also experiencing a lack of obstetricians, said Kim Mayne, clinic coordinator.
'We have one OB-GYN who comes down once a month from Logan,' Mayne said.
In an attempt to cover high insurance costs and keep obstetricians in practice, the hospital pays a portion of their doctors'' insurance fees, she said. The high insurance rates are making that system too expensive, and Mayne said there needs to be a change.
'I would definitely think something needs to be done,' she said. 'I don''t know what, but something needs to be done.'
Dr. Grant Carter used to be an obstetrician in St. George. He now works at the Southern Utah Women''s Health Center, but has dropped his obstetrics practice, his co-worker April Barden said.
Barden, clinic administrator at the health center, said she spoke with Carter about his decision to quit obstetrics.
Carter had responsibilities at both the hospital and the clinic, and the high insurance rates made it too difficult to continue all of his responsibilities, Barden said of Carter.
'He told me the high rates were responsible,' Barden said of Carter''s career decision to no longer be an obstetrician.