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Board wants $250K requirement for doctors scrapped
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Posted on Dec 10 2006
The Medical Profession Licensing Board wants to remove a $250,000 insurance requirement for doctors practicing in the Commonwealth.
Currently, physicians and medical officers licensed to practice in the CNMI are required to have insurance or other evidence of financial responsibility worth at least $250,000 to protect against malpractice claims. This requirement has been in place since September 1989.
The board, led by chairman David Hardt, proposes to repeal the regulation “to ensure that the regulations accurately reflect the medical community’s current standards and practice.”
The proposed amendment to MPLB regulations appeared in the latest issue of the Commonwealth Register. The board will receive comments on the proposal until the end of this month.
Last year, the Department of Public Health adopted regulations which made malpractice liability coverage a mandatory requirement for the medical staff at the Commonwealth Health Center.
Under DPH regulations, no physician could practice at CHC unless he or she presents proof of private medical malpractice liability insurance (occurrence type) coverage of $100,000.
Possible alternative security vehicles available for physicians include a surety bond, letter of credit, pledge of collateral, or escrow account,
DPH adopted the regulation despite strong opposition from doctors, who argued that malpractice insurance was extremely difficult to obtain and unaffordable to them.
But the department said that medical malpractice insurance was vital to protecting the government and the taxpayers from expenses that might arise from alleged medical malpractice occurring at the government-run hospital.
“When private physicians use the government hospital facilities as part of their business, they are not ordinarily subject to government control, and so some protection of the government and public interest is required so that taxpayers don’t suffer losses caused by the private business of another,” the department said.
