New research details how the threat of medical liability litigation hovers over physicians like a cloud and imposes rising costs on the nation’s health system.

More than one in three physicians, 34 percent, have had a medical liability lawsuit filed against them at some point in their careers, says one of three trend reports published by the AMA’s Division of Economic and Health Policy Research. The longer physicians are in practice, the likelier it is that they will have experienced a lawsuit.

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A nonprofit founded by the AMA and other major players in health care and technology is seeking comments on an early set of guidelines that aim to assess the quality, safety and effectiveness of mHealth apps in the key areas of operability, privacy, security and content.

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With the dawn of a midterm election year and major issues affecting the nation’s health system on the agenda, questions arise about the role physicians should play in discussing political topics with patients.

In a recent JAMA opinion essay, Harvard Medical School Professor Jerry Avorn, MD, argued that “a strong case can be made that rather than being a taboo subject, discussing transformational changes in health care coverage with patients could be seen as a core responsibility of all clinicians—physicians, nurses, pharmacists, therapists.”

Such communications are “necessary to ensure the capacity of health care professionals to continue to provide patients with the health care they seek from us,” he added. “The intimate connection between coverage and clinical care also offers a direct and unassailable way to communicate this information.”

The AMA Code of Medical Ethics has guidance for physicians on this sensitive issue.

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