As we embark on a new year, I extend my heartfelt gratitude for your leadership on behalf of your fellow physicians. I want to take a moment to reflect on our recent success in stopping the lame-duck effort to dismantle Michigan’s long-standing liability reforms and to share some lessons learned.
Following the November elections and facing the loss of the State House, legislative leadership launched a last-minute effort to undo Michigan’s longstanding liability reforms. Matching bills introduced in the House and Senate sought to eliminate Michigan’s cap on non-economic damage awards, allow the calculation of speculative economic awards in cases involving minors, and make non-dependents eligible to receive awards. According to The Doctors Company, a leading medical liability insurance provider, the enactment of these proposals would have triggered an immediate 37% increase in medical liability premiums for Michigan physicians.
These bills were placed on a fast track for passage, with only cursory hearings held in the relevant committees. During the hearings, the proponents—primarily the Michigan Association for Justice (the association for trial attorneys)—were allotted 20 minutes to testify, while the opposition, led by MSMS, was granted only 2-3 minutes. Despite this deliberate imbalance, MSMS, through its legislative staff and member network, successfully engaged enough thoughtful legislators in the following days to secure the necessary “no” vote commitments to defeat the proposals.
You may have read that the legislative session ended in disarray, with the House failing to achieve a quorum. While this was true in the end, even when the House had a quorum, the proponents never garnered enough votes to pass the measures—thanks to MSMS’ efforts.
Our effort to secure the “no” votes was multipronged. It involved generating over 5,000 email contacts to legislative offices, prompted by MSMS’ Member Alerts. Many specialty and county medical societies redistributed these alerts to their members, or wrote their own alerts, amplifying their impact. Additionally, some specialty societies organized their own meetings between their members and legislators. So, hooray to our specialty medical societies for stepping up and thank you for any role you played in contacting legislators and encouraging your member physicians to do the same!
One critical factor in our success was the foundation of pre-existing relationships between MSMS physician members, our government affairs staff, and members of the legislature. These relationships are cultivated through individual specialty society activities, county medical society legislative meetings, MSMS’ Legislative Committee, the MSMS Annual Advocacy Day in Lansing (scheduled for Wednesday, March 19, 2025), and involvement in MDPAC and its activities.
This episode serves as a powerful reminder of the challenging environment medical practices face and the importance of maintaining strong state, county, and specialty medical societies with engaged members.
Thank you again for your help in defeating these onerous measures and for your dedication in leading your specialty society! Best wishes for a prosperous and successful new year. Sincerely,
Tom M. George, MD| Chief Executive Officer
Michigan State Medical Society
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