Sports medicine surgeons caring for elite athletes may not have sufficient legal coverage
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Key takeaways:
- Orthopedic sports medicine surgeons may not have sufficient legal coverage to care for large portions of athletes in the NFL, MLB and NHL.
- Lack of coverage may expose physicians to malpractice liabilities.
According to published results, orthopedic sports medicine surgeons who care for professional athletes may not have sufficient legal coverage to provide full care and may incur personal financial risk.
“Elite athletes deserve elite doctors with elite malpractice coverage. As sports medicine surgeons bear increasing responsibility and risk for athletic departments and professional franchises with bloating contracts and sponsorships in a highly litigious environment, we cannot neglect ourselves if we want to continue to serve our athletes in need,” Prem N. Ramkumar, MD, MBA, of Commons Clinic, told Healio. “There exist opportunities for sports medicine physicians to partner with hospital systems, franchises, institutions and other risk-bearing entities in advance of rendering care to continue enabling athletic performance at the highest level.”
Ramkumar and colleagues performed an economic and decision analysis to assess the malpractice liability exposure of orthopedic sports medicine surgeons caring for athletes in the National Football League, Major League Baseball and National Hockey League.
Ramkumar and colleagues evaluated player contracts from the 2022 to 2023 season among 2,447 NFL players, 992 MLB players and 980 NHL players to calculate risk ratios for $1 million and $3 million worth of annual occurrence-based malpractice liability awards covered by malpractice liability insurance, according to the study.
In their model, Ramkumar and colleagues found sports medicine surgeons were financially eligible to treat 17.3% and 50% of NFL players, 43.2% and 59.7% of MLB players and 13.6% and 41% of NHL players for $1 million and $3 million awards, respectively.
To obtain 95% coverage for athletes among all leagues, surgeons required malpractice coverage of $52.6 million for NFL players, $108.1 million for MLB players and $64.1 million for NHL players.
Ramkumar and colleagues noted the positions with the highest mean risk ratios based on $3 million awards were quarterback in the NFL (RR = 9.9), right field in the MLB (RR = 15.1) and center in the NHL (RR = 5.7).
“Medical malpractice risk should be an increased source of focused attention when discussing partnerships between professional sports franchises, hospital organizations, players, their agents and the treating sports medicine physician,” Ramkumar and colleagues wrote. “Ensuring that physicians are adequately protected not only safeguards their well-being but also supports the health and safety of the athletes they serve.”
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