MSSNY President Robert Hughes, MD Responds to Sequester and State Budget Cuts

"We Need Relief Now!"

WESTBURY, NY (02/25/2013)(readMedia)-- STATEMENT OF ROBERT HUGHES, MD, MSSNY PRESIDENT, IN RESPONSE TO COMBINATION OF SEQUESTER AND STATE BUDGET CUTS TO HEALTH CARE

"This week, billions of dollars will be cut from our health care system as a result of the federal sequester. Additionally, State Budget proposals will dramatically shrink eligibility for the Excess Medical Liability Insurance Program. Isn't it time that the State Legislature, Governor Cuomo, the US Congress and President Obama at least give serious consideration to the enactment of comprehensive medical liability reform? Study after study has shown that a dysfunctional medical liability adjudication system causes billions of dollars to be wasted on unnecessary MRIs, CT scans and specialty referrals because physicians are forced to practice fear-based 'defensive medicine'.

"As part of the Medicaid Redesign Team (MRT) proposals advanced in the 2011-12 Executive Budget, Governor Cuomo proposed a package of comprehensive medical liability reforms. Unfortunately, that package was not included in the final State Budget. Once again, physicians face substantial cuts as well as increasingly time-consuming administrative burdens to providing patient care. This exacerbates an already existing access to care issues. It is imperative that policymakers act to reduce the choking costs of medical liability as a way to offset these cuts. With 2014 just around the corner, bringing millions of newly insured individuals into our healthcare system, the combination of rising overhead costs and decreasing payments makes the exorbitant cost of our medical liability adjudication system unsustainable. We need relief now!"

Founded in 1807, the Medical Society of the State of New York is the state's principal non-profit professional organization for physicians, residents and medical students of all specialties. Its mission is to represent the interests of patients and physicians to assure quality healthcare services for all.