Doyle's Health Fund Transfer

The Oshkosh Northwestern and The Associated Press reported on March 23 that State Senator Carol Roessler and Rep Gordon Hintz have concerns about a proposed transfer of funds from a medical malpractice fund to pay for other medical initiatives, such as incentives for providers to switch to electronic records and to "pay Medicaid costs and increase provider reimbursement rates."

According to the article, "Representative Gordon Hintz, D-Oshkosh, said he is concerned about how using the fund could impact future budgets. He said most of the time money in segregated funds should be used for orignal purposes and that a plan such as this will not make for a longterm solution.."

See the Oshkosh Northwestern article here.

A similar measure was killed in 2005. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinal covered the story here. According to that article, "Committee co-chairman Rep. Dean Kaufert (R-Neenah) said the committee needed to protect the state's Patients Compensation Fund, which is credited with creating a physician-friendly business environment and contributing to quality health care in Wisconsin. Physicians pay into the fund, which is used to cover liability claims from injured patients."

According to reporting by Shamane Mills on the Wisconsin Public Radio website from Friday, March 23, 2007:

The Legislative Audit Bureau says the Injured Patients and Families Compensation Fund is financially sound. It has a balance of nearly 60 million dollars; money set aside for malpractice claims not covered by doctors’ insurance. Yet Legislative Audit Committee co-chair Suzanne Jeskewitz is uneasy about planned and unplanned withdrawals from the fund. She says it looks like there’s lot of money in that fund and there is, but what’s unknown is future liability.

The audit bureau report says estimating the fund’s liabilities is challenging because claims can be filed years after they happen, and some of those injuries might have occurred when the state Supreme Court lifted limits on pain and suffering. A $750,000 cap was later put into law, but Mark Grapentine from the Wisconsin Medical Society notes it’s only been on the books since 2005 and hasn’t been tested in the courts yet. He says it’s wiser to leave fund as is.