Jason Bring Explains Hospitals’ Underutilization of ADR in Healthcare Risk Management

Jason Bring, AGG chair of the Healthcare Litigation Team and co-chair of the Post-Acute & Long-Term Care industry team, was quoted in a Healthcare Risk Management article discussing why hospitals have been slow to utilize alternative dispute resolution (“ADR”) agreements to avoid litigation.

While other industries have adopted ADR and seen positive results, hospitals have lagged behind, Jason said.

“These are agreements that say, ‘Hey, we’re going to resolve any dispute not through the court system, but through first, usually mediation and then arbitration,’” he explained. “If mediation is not successful, arbitration allows someone to take that and have the dispute settled, not by a judge and jury, but instead by a single arbitrator, or sometimes a panel of three.”

He noted that this lack of usage differs from other areas in healthcare, such as the long-term care section for nursing homes, where ADR is commonly used.

Jason detailed the benefits of arbitration, including its fast results, reduced costs, and confidential nature, which “takes away the prospect of a nuclear verdict, and that’s what most providers fear the most.”

But despite its advantages, ADR is underused in hospitals, likely due to its unfamiliarity among healthcare leaders, Jason explained. ADR is also not widely taught in law schools, leaving a gap in knowledge for traditional defense counsels.

“Certainly, I think it’s a missed opportunity,” Jason said. “At a minimum, hospitals should be carefully considering whether and why they aren’t using an ADR process.”

To read the full article, please click here.