Washington - Richard L. Jackson, chariman and CEO of Atlanta-based Jackson Healthcare, joined Newt Gingrich and other panelists to present the findings of a recent Gallup poll quantifying defensive medicine.

The event, titled, "The Human and Economic Cost of Defensive Medicine," was a press briefing hosted by the Center for Health Transformation (CHT) and Jackson Healthcare.  In addition to Jackson, speakers included Newt Gingrich, Wayne Oliver of (CHT), health policy expert, Mark McClellan, MD and neurosurgeon/attorney Jeffrey Segal, MD.

The event included the following presentations:

• Results of the Jackson Healthcare/Gallup poll
• The overall impact of defensive medicine
• The economic perspective and impacts of defensive medicine
• The physician/patient perspective

During the event, Jackson announced that one in four healthcare dollars is spent annually on unnecessary medical care.  According to the Gallup findings, physicians estimate that 26 percent of healthcare spending is defensive in nature.

Using physician estimates, Jackson estimates that $650 billion of the $2.5 trillion spent annually on healthcare is due to defensive medicine.

Richard Jackson & Newt Gingrich

Entire Press Event 

Chairman and CEO of Jackson Healthcare, Richard L. Jackson, joins Newt Gingrich and the Center for Health Transformation to present the findings and implications of a recent Gallup study of the nation's physicians.