In this case, the patient sued Healthcare Partners, several licensed physicians employed by Healthcare Partners, and others for negligent failure to diagnose and treat her breast cancer. The jury found Healthcare Partners at fault and ordered it to pay 58 percent of the award, which totaled approximately $400,000 for economic losses and $2.1 million for noneconomic losses. Healthcare Partners requested the court reduce the judgment, in accordance with MICRA’s $250,000 cap on noneconomic damages. A Superior Court in San Francisco denied the motion, ruling that Healthcare Partners is not a "health care provider," but rather a "managed care entity," and as such is not entitled to MICRA’s protections. Healthcare Partners has appealed the trial court’s ruling.

California law has long recognized that lawfully organized physician groups are "health care providers," said CMA’s brief. The brief, filed in conjunction with the California Dental Association and the California Healthcare Association, argues that the trial court undermined MICRA and ignored the legislature’s clear demarcation between the liability faced by health plans and the liability faced by health care providers.. The brief also notes that identical issues were recently decided in favor or a medical group by the California Court of Appeal in San Diego in Palmer v. Superior Court (2002). In that case, the appellate court ruled that California law does indeed consider medical groups to be health care providers.

If the trial court’s ruling is allowed to stand, further stress will be placed on California’s already teetering health care system and it will increase pressure on physicians to abandon the efficiencies of group practice, said CMA officials.

To download a copy of CMA's brief, click here.