Fact: If the system were functioning well, we would not see: Persistent hospital and clinic closures Specialty care shortages Multi-month wait times A shrinking insurer pool Medical service lines being discontinued Rising out-of-state patient migration for basic care...
Fact: New Mexico’s high claim frequency and severity mean a growing share of dollars is going to: Litigation costs Defense expenses Insurance losses This raises premiums for doctors and hospitals and contributes to service reductions — especially in rural communities....
Fact: Training more physicians is important, but retention is the real challenge. According to the UNM School of Medicine Location Report (2024): Only ~52% of physicians who complete both medical school and residency at UNM stay in New Mexico. National data (AAMC)...
Fact: New Mexico’s market is widely recognized as distressed. Only a very small number of insurers still write malpractice policies in our state. Several carriers have exited in recent years due to unpredictable risk and high verdict severity. Fewer insurers mean...
Fact: The biggest driver of recent reform efforts is market instability, not corporate preference. Independent actuaries (WTW/MPLA) show: New Mexico’s five-year average loss ratio is 175% (insurers pay $1.75 for every $1.00 collected). The U.S. average is ~75%. New...
Fact: Modern medicine is delivered through integrated hospital systems, and most physicians work inside them. A significant majority of New Mexico physicians are hospital-employed or hospital-based (higher than national trends). Nationally, only 47% of physicians...
Myth 1: New Mexico has plenty of doctors — more per capita than neighboring states — so physician shortages aren’t real. Fact: Licensing numbers do not reflect how many physicians are actually available to treat New Mexico patients. New Mexico’s license rolls include...
By Daniel J. ChacónA Northwestern University law professor who appeared before New Mexico lawmakers to discuss the effects of medical malpractice reform kicked off his presentation Tuesday by calling himself an equal opportunity annoyer. “Sometimes my research annoys...
Ownership isn’t the issue—access is. New Mexico’s healthcare crisis isn’t about who runs our hospitals. It’s about whether patients can actually get care. Here’s what’s really driving doctors out of the state—and what we can do to fix it.