An urgent call to action: Liability caps and professional review confidentiality under attack
An urgent call to action: Liability caps and professional review confidentiality under attack
Wednesday, January 31, 2024
Colorado’s health care system finds itself at a crucial juncture where the core principles of our medical and business community are under threat from two proposed ballot initiatives filed by the Colorado Trial Lawyers Association that will unravel the very fabric of our state’s confidential professional review process and stable liability climate. This attack is bad for patients, bad for the medical community, and bad for Colorado.
The threat
Initiative #149 will remove all confidentiality protections provided in the nearly 50-year-old Colorado Professional Review Act, effectively gutting patient safety systems like peer review, quality assurance programs, risk management and others.
Initiative #150 aims to remove all economic and noneconomic damage caps for catastrophic injuries, defined as death, dismemberment, permanent injury to the body or mind, or a severe injury that limits activities of normal daily life.
Our response
Shortly after these damaging measures were filed, Coloradans Protecting Patient Access (CPPA) – the broader coalition representing health care in Colorado, of which Colorado Medical Society (CMS) and COPIC are members – filed two countermeasures. Both measures ensure that Colorado is home to transparent legal reforms, with a focus on impacted parties’ rights to recover fair compensation for damages.
Initiative #170 caps attorney fees in cases of personal injury and wrongful death at no more than 25% of their client’s total damages award.
Initiative #171 requires lawyers in personal injury and wrongful death cases to disclose litigation costs to be borne by clients in civil cases proactively and transparently.
Call to action
This is not just a call to awareness but a call to action to stand with us in safeguarding the integrity of Colorado’s health care system and business environment by contributing financial support to the effort.
We need dedicated resources to win this fight. Your contribution will fuel a robust statewide ballot campaign to defeat Initiatives 149 and 150 and pass Initiatives 170 and 171. We must move quickly and amass a war chest to fight this battle. Our health care climate depends on your support immediately!
Send a check today made out to the Colorado Medical Society with Liability Defense Fund written in the memo section, to 7351 E. Lowry Blvd, Suite 110, Denver, CO 80230. If you prefer, call the CMS offices at 720-859-1001 Monday through Friday between 8:30 am and 5:00 pm to make a secure contribution using your credit card.
Read more here.