The rising medical malpractice insurance premiums continue to escalate and affect doctors; hospital and patients are being affected as well.

According to the American Medical Association, 19 states, including Ohio, are among those in crisis of medical malpractice.

Medical malpractice premiums have been increasing more than 500 percent for over 26 years.

A study done by the Ohio State Medical Association found states, including Ohio, are losing physicians to early retirement and relocation. This exodus of physicians is due to the rising premiums of professional liability insurance.

The doctors who are affected by the rising premiums are physicians in high-risk procedures.

Mary Sterenberg, spokeswoman for the Ohio Hospital Association, said the crisis has been ongoing since the 1970s and began with a crisis of accessing medical malpractice insurance.

During the 1970s insurance companies flooded the market and ultimately collapsed, leaving few carriers in the market, she said.

Insurance companies covering malpractice have dropped from 20 to four in Ohio, said Mike Ware, associate director of government relations at the Ohio State University Medical Association.

OHA decided to help alleviate the problem by establishing the Sponsored Deductible Program. Its purpose is to help doctors afford the high deductibles so they can practice.

“Medical professionals are seeking out the formation of their own insurance companies,” Sterenberg said. “They don’t have the money the large companies have.”

The doctors hit hardest were the physicians in high-risk specialties, she said.

As the crisis looms in Ohio and other states, legislation has been sought in favor of medical professionals.

“Our goal and purpose is to represent more than 15,000 doctors and medical students to advocate legislature and business services,” Ware said.

These companies cannot make a profit so they are forced to defend against losses and raise their premiums and get out of the market, Ware said.

OSMA was able to help lobby for a recent bill passed in favor of lowering malpractice premiums.

The Ohio General Assembly passed House Bill 215, which allows either party to a medical claim to require the claim to be re-evaluated by a medical review panel prior to proceeding in court.

Other bills passed by the Ohio Senate, like Senate Bill 281, caps non-economic damages in malpractice lawsuits at between $350,000 and $1 million depending on the severity of an injury.

OSMA is hoping to present new legislation in order to stop this ongoing crisis. Ware said they are expecting several bills to be introduced this year in favor of reform.

“There is no one magic bullet to stop the problem,” he said.