Accountable Care Organizations and Professional Liability Risk

This article focuses on the impact an ACO may have on medical malpractice litigation. Issues related to forming an ACO or other integrative care model, and the significant associated risks to the entity (e.g., the Stark law, anti-kickback statute, and antitrust issues) are beyond the scope of this article. In some collaborative care models, the actual liability risks may not change Psychiatrists already can be held liable for the acts of other professionals. In a medical malpractice action, the plaintiff’s attorney has a professional obligation to pursue every possible defendant. This means that a psychiatrist who has been involved, however remotely, in the plaintiff’s treatment can almost always expect to be named as a defendant. Treatment arrangements in which liability for the acts of others has typically been a risk include the following: 1. In split-treatment relationships (where the psychiatrist provides psychopharmacology and a therapist provides therapy), the liability risks have remained the same since this model was introduced in the managed care era. The psychiatrist has always been responsible for ensuring the patient receives appropriate care. Ultimately, however, the court and the jury will decide what actions and/or omissions of the psychiatrist and nonmedical therapist will be determinative of liability. They may choose to ignore the distinctions on which the professionals functioned. 2. When working with nurse practitioners, whether in a supervisory or co...
Source: Innovations in Clinical Neuroscience - Category: Neuroscience Authors: Tags: Current Issue Practice Management Risk Management Accountable Care Organizations professional liability risk Source Type: research