NewTalker Timothy S. Jost has a piece entitled Health Care Reform Requires Law Reform in the policy journal Health Affairs. Jost argues that as Congress moves forward with health care reform, it will need to "understand state law requirements to decide how much federal preemption is necessary for health reform." Reform may come at the federal or state level, or even with limited scope in the private sector. But, Jost says, assuming reform will come at the federal level, knowledge of existing state laws will help curb the risk for contradiction and/or unnecessary or detrimental lawmaking.

The article is filled with suggestions for how government should handle its policy role, regardless of the form health care reform takes.  Among the suggestions is one to reduce liability concerns and the practice known as defensive medicine:

"One approach that might not only reduce liability concerns but might also improve the quality of care would be for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to implement a statute that provides liability immunity for physicians who comply with practice guidelines standards created by Quality Improvement Organizations (QIOs)."

Read the article [Health Affairs]