Malpractice risk prevention for primary care physicians.

The recent medical malpractice "crisis" has seen skyrocketing liability premiums and increasing fear of liability. Primary care physicians, especially family medicine and internal medicine physicians, have historically experienced low rates of malpractice claims, both in number and amount of payment. This can be attributed to several factors: the esteem held by internal medicine and family medicine physicians in their communities, relatively low numbers of invasive procedures, reluctance of patients to include "their" primary care physician in any potential litigation, and, probably most importantly, the atmosphere of mutual trust and communication between the internist or family physician and the patient. Recent years have seen this trend erased, as insurance industry data suggest primary care physicians presently face significant potential exposure for medical malpractice claims. It is imperative that primary care physicians take steps to insure they are adequately covered in case of a malpractice claim and that they practice aggressive but appropriate risk management to lessen the likelihood of a claim.