Bill seeks to end practice of defensive medicine

Rep. Tom Price, MD (R-Georgia), has introduced a bill in Congress aimed at ending the need for doctors to practice defensive medicine.

The bill offers legal protections to healthcare providers who practice medicine consistent with best practice guidelines selected by the secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services after securing approval and endorsement by a physician specialty organization and a qualified physician consensus-building organization.

It also provides grants to states to use in creating administrative healthcare tribunals that would hear cases, but only after they are reviewed by an expert panel, and allows claims to be filed with a state court after all administrative remedies have been exhausted.