More than 250,000 people die in the U.S. every year as a result of medical errors, said a study conducted by Johns Hopkins University in 2016. This made medical errors the third-leading cause of death in the country, which has strongly highlighted the onus of doctors and healthcare firms on ensuring a low mortality rate. Moreover, according to estimates, medical errors cause the U.S. economy at least $20 billion each year due to the additional costs of treating the same disease again and treating the complications due to such errors.
P&S Intelligence considers this to be a key factor behind the growth of the U.S. medical peer/external physician review services market in the years to come. This is because in case of such mishaps, often, the doctor or hospital is taken to court by the kin of the victim. Before a decision regarding granting the patients’ family compensation or charging the healthcare provider with medical negligence is made, a proper investigation is conducted. Since it is not possible for the police or lawyers to do so, the hospital’s disciplinary committee or another doctor does the investigation.
According to the American Medical Association (AMA), 225,000 more people die in the country each year because of medical malpractice, which leads to 17,000 lawsuits each year. As a result, individual doctors and large healthcare institutions often hire legal firms, which contract an external doctor to carry out the investigation, so that what actually happened during treatment could be figured out. In some cases, the healthcare provider is held guilty; other times, they aren’t, when the death is either ascribed to medical decisions that were necessary that time, or the patient’s kin’s allegations are finally deemed faulty.
Further, many hospitals and doctors lack the expertise to conduct such an investigation, especially when there is a risk of a potential lawsuit involved. Additionally, the guidelines implemented for such a review are rather structured in the country, which encourages the healthcare fraternity to opt for such services. The American Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME), Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO), American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS), American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and AMA are the organizations tasked with regulating medical physician reviews.
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This study covers
- Major factors driving the market and their impact during the short, medium, and long terms
- Market restraints and their impact during the short, medium, and long terms
- Recent trends and evolving opportunities for the market participants
- Historical and the present size of the market segments and understand their comparative future potential
- Potential of on-demand logistics services, so the market players make informed decisions on the sales of their offerings
- Competitive scenario of various market segments across key countries in several regions for uncovering market opportunities for the stakeholders
- Major players operating in the market and their service offerings