Physicians in West Virginia had the country’s highest rate of paid malpractice claims in 2010, according to an analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
There were 48.4 paid claims per 1,000 physicians in the state last year, well ahead of the states in second and third place: Louisiana at 35.5 claims per 1,000 and Kansas at 32.0. Rounding out the top five were Pennsylvania (28.7) and New Mexico (27.9). New York physicians, who had the sixth-highest rate (27.1 per 1,000), paid the most overall claims, 1,373.
Wisconsin had the lowest rate – 3.7 paid claims per 1,000 physicians – with Minnesota (4.9) second and South Dakota (5.3) third. South Dakota had the fewest claims overall, with just eight for the year.
The Kaiser analysis was based on data from the National Practitioner Data Bank. The rate for each state was calculated using physician data from the American Medical Association.