Over the past year, one theme has become unmistakably clear: the cost of healthcare professional liability risk is rising both nationally and increasingly here in Kansas. The environment in which our physicians, advanced practice providers, and healthcare organizations operate has changed materially, and those changes affect far more than insurance pricing. They influence operations, staffing, financial planning, and ultimately patient access to care.

Across the country, medical malpractice claims are becoming more severe and more complex. Courts are seeing a growing number of “mega-verdicts,” and the average size of high-value awards continues to escalate. These outcomes are driven by a combination of factors, including changing societal views toward institutions and expertise, more aggressive litigation strategies, and erosion of long-standing tort reforms that once stabilized the system.

In addition, the plaintiffs’ bar has evolved its approach. Advertising has expanded dramatically, third-party litigation funding has become more common, and psychological anchoring tactics are now regularly used to influence juries’ perceptions of damages. Claims are increasingly structured to target not only individual providers but entire health systems through agency theories of liability. Cyber events and system-wide allegations are also being leveraged to generate class-action-style claims. While these trends originated nationally, we are now seeing them appear with increasing frequency in Kansas.