Washington — New House legislation aims to curb the overuse of health care by establishing clinical best practices for physician services and creating health care tribunals to hear medical liability cases.

“The practice of defensive medicine adds billions of dollars of unnecessary costs to our health care system and diverts doctors’ focus away from delivering quality care,” Rep. Tom Price, MD, (R, Ga.) said in a statement after introducing the legislation on June 24.

The bill would use a three-pronged approach to end overutilization of tests and other unnecessary care while respecting the rights of patients and doctors to determine the best course of treatment, he said. The legislation would:

• Protect doctors and other health professionals from liability if they practice medicine consistent with best practices developed by physician specialty and quality organizations, and then approved by the Health and Human Services secretary.
• Provide grants to states to create administrative health care tribunals. The tribunals would hear cases after another panel of three to seven experts reviews evidence. Judges with health care expertise would lead the tribunals.
• Preserve the ability of a plaintiff to file a claim with a state court after administrative remedies are exhausted.