On April 19, 1977 the Governor signed into law the Montana Medical Legal Panel Act that created the Montana Medical Legal Panel, a mandatory screening Panel for all malpractice claims against certain health care providers prior to the filing in court of any such action. Medical malpractice claims are some of the most complex and time-consuming cases that are processed through the court system.
The Annual Report provides details of Panel claims activity for the past decade. Additionally, the final page of this report provides a table of basic claim history for the past 30 years.
It takes approximately five years from the starting point until the rate of malpractice claims “mature” or are fully-reported from an incident year given that Montana has a three year “discovery” statute of limitations. Consequently some actions are still pending final outcome.
The number of claims filed at the Panel has decreased since 2005 while the number of health care providers in Montana has increased – thus reflecting a significant overall reduction in the percentage of health care providers involved in medical malpractice claims in our state.
.png/:/cr=t:0%25,l:21.89%25,w:56.22%25,h:100%25/rs=w:365,h:365,cg:true)