(4/1/2023) - Pennsylvania Citizens for Fairness, a statewide consumer group, has reported that in a posting on the website for the Politically Active Physicians Association (PAPA), the site’s editor had admitted there are errors with a controversial list of "Disappearing Doctors" that she maintains.   The list has been used as the source of the oft-cited number of doctors who have supposedly left Pennsylvania because of high medical malpractice insurance rates, but that is not accurate--the site’s editor admits--because no one checks to make sure the claims are accurate.  Donna Baver Rovito admitted in the posting that she "simply do[esn't] have the resources to personally check out each piece of information which is e-mailed to me." 

Doctors’ groups and others who want to restrict an injured parties’ ability to collect fair compensation for their injuries have used the list for political purposes.

Citizens for Fairness has cited other recent examples disputing claims of doctors’ exodus form the state. For example, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Insurance, the number of doctors has been increasing over the last three years, with approximately 1,000 more doctors paying into the state's mandatory MCare system than just three years ago. This new information supports the findings by the General Accounting Office (GAO) that the number of physicians per capita in Pennsylvania has increased in the past few years. [Scranton Times, 11/28/03; Wilkes-Barre Times Leader, 9/10/03].

Click here for link to PAPA’s web site