Physicians See Higher Liability Premiums For 7th Year In A Row: Survey – KFF Health News

One outlier in the American Medical Association’s analysis was California, Fierce Healthcare reports, where reported premiums were “significantly lower,” perhaps due to a state law capping noneconomic damages.

Fierce Healthcare: Doctors’ Liability Premiums Rise For 7th Straight Year Physicians’ medical liability insurance premiums rose for the seventh consecutive year in 2025, a first for the field since 2005, and at the second-highest rate since that same year, according to a new American Medical Association analysis. Among responses to an annual survey of leading medical liability insurers, 39.9% reported a year-to-year increase in medical liability during 2025, with 6% indicating an increase of 6% or more and 3.1% any level of decrease. Since the early 2000s, only 2024 was higher, with 49.8% of premiums rising. (Muoio, 4/27)

More on the high cost of health care —

Modern Healthcare: Health Insurance CEO Compensation Stagnated In 2025 Health insurance CEO pay dipped slightly in 2025 as companies continued to grind their way back to peak profitability. Chief executive compensation fell at Centene, Cigna and Molina Healthcare and rose at UnitedHealth Group, Elevance Health, Aetna parent company CVS Health, Humana, Alignment Health and Oscar Health, according to regulatory filings the publicly traded companies submitted in recent weeks. (Tepper, 4/27)

Becker’s Hospital Review: Employers’ GLP-1 Coverage Dilemma Grows Self-funded health systems have been navigating a costly GLP-1 landscape in recent years, and the issue has not seemed to lighten up — yet. Philadelphia-based Jefferson Health is one of the latest grappling with steep costs for its 65,000 employees. In an NBC News interview this month, Jefferson CEO Joseph Cacchione, MD, said the organization saved $20 million by implementing a diet-and-lifestyle program for employees, rather than immediately granting GLP-1 coverage. Ninety percent of participants are actively involved in the program. (Casolo, 4/27)

KFF Health News: Big Companies Position Themselves For Payday From $50B Federal Rural Health Fund Tory Starr is worried about the people who get medical care at Open Door Community Health Centers along California’s North Coast. “They’re the folks that work at restaurants. They’re the teacher’s aides,” said Starr, a registered nurse who became Open Door’s chief executive more than six years ago. Those patients, he said, are “really the heart and soul of rural America.” (Tribble, 4/28)

KFF Health News: An Urgent Care Treated Her Allergic Reaction. An ER Monitored Her — For $6,700 Silvana Toska was playing in a grass field with her daughters late last fall when she felt a sting on her ankle. The family had come to listen for barred and great horned owls as the sun set on a large park near their Davidson, North Carolina, home. It was “just like a mosquito bite, nothing major, and I just scratched it,” said Toska, a political science professor. Then she began to itch everywhere. She couldn’t see anything in the dark, so her husband shined his phone light on her.She was covered in hives. (Jones, 4/28)

In other health industry news —

Becker’s Hospital Review: Health System Governance Is Falling Behind: 8 Things To Know Nonprofit health system boards are governing larger, more complex enterprises than ever before, but a report published April 27 by The Governance Institute — part of NRC Health — argues that governance capability has not kept pace with that reality. The report draws on survey data, public health spending figures and field experience to examine the question: Does the current governance model fit the operating reality of modern health systems? The answer, according to the report, is no, and the gap is widening. (Condon, 4/27)

Modern Healthcare: UPMC, Sanford Health Use APPs, Pharmacists To Expand Access Advanced practice practitioners and pharmacists are taking center stage as health systems revamp their care teams, and the strategy is paying off. The goal of the increasingly popular workforce model is to free up nurse and physician specialists for more complex cases while reducing costs and increasing access. Team-based care initiatives have helped close access gaps in rural communities where physician recruitment remains a persistent challenge. (Kacik, 4/27)

Kansas City Star: Defense Denies KU Med Surgery Device Was Source Of Infection  The factory that manufactured the device used during a Raytown man’s heart surgery at The University of Kansas Hospital was not the source of the deadly infection that his family alleges claimed his life, a defense witness testified at a trial on Friday. (Thomas, 4/27)

Fierce Healthcare: Utah Doctors Call For Suspension Of AI Prescribing Pilot Doctors in the state of Utah are challenging an artificial intelligence-powered prescription medication refill system they say puts patient safety at risk. In January, the state inked a partnership with AI doctor startup Doctronic to test out an AI-powered system to “automate routine, guideline-based prescription renewals” for Utah residents. It marked the first test of AI as an autonomous clinical decision-maker under a regulatory suspension paradigm, as Fierce Healthcare reported in January. (Landi, 4/27)

Stat: Google Wants Gemini AI Chats To Be A Bridge To Mental Health Support  As Google faces pressure to take greater accountability for the mental health impacts of its artificial intelligence products, the company’s clinical director Megan Jones Bell welcomed the challenge of making artificial intelligence helpful to people who come to its Gemini chatbot with a mental health crisis. (Aguilar, 4/28)

St. Pete Catalyst: A Robot May Soon Move Patients Around Hospitals  Rovex Technologies Corp. founder and CEO Dr. David Crabb has experienced hospital logistical challenges firsthand. He’s an emergency room physician by trade. This led Crabb to explore autonomous robots and how they could assist. In 2024, he started the Gainesville-based startup and began to develop Rovi – which can carry stretchers. (Connor, 4/27)

This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.

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