Average Duration of Malpractice Claims, Common Contributing Factors

The average U.S. physician spends 50.7 months, or close to 11% of an assumed 40-year career, with an open medical malpractice claim, according to a study published in the January 2013 issue of Health Affairs that discusses inefficiencies in the U.S. medical malpractice system. The study, which analyzed the malpractice claims data for 40,916 physicians covered by a large liability insurer with physicians in every state, found that the mean claim took 20.3 months to be resolved and the mean time from the incident date to the date the claim was filed was 22.8 months. When combined, these figures indicate that the average claim was not resolved until 43 months—nearly 4 years—after the incident took place. A claim’s time to resolution varied significantly in whether or not it resulted in payment to a patient. Among the cases resolved with no payment, 72% took six months or more to be resolved, 50% took one year or more, and 12% took three years or more.