In Beber v. Metzger and MDVIP, along with other physician defendants, a Florida jury awarded $8.5 million in a malpractice claim, and found MDVIP, a national concierge physician network with over 800 physicians, partially liable for the award.

Without the benefit of a judicial opinion, we can only speculate as to why a jury believed that MDVIP was partially responsible for the negligence of a member physician, however the theories of negligence in contractual ventures are not that different from those applicable employed physicians and integrated delivery systems.

The argument at trial was that MDVIP was presenting its member physicians to potential patients and making representations with respect to quality of care.  Obviously, the jury believed that, if MDVIP or any other concierge network is making quality representations, then those entities run the risk of being held responsible for the failure to meet those “promises”.

Furthermore, there are additional theories of liability which might be explored.  Entities that have contracts with other physicians and other healthcare providers have potential liability based upon theories of agency and vicarious liability, in the same way that a practice is responsible for the actions of its employed physicians.

Another potential theory of liability is negligent credentialing.  Will concierge physician networks be held responsible for allowing physicians, with suspect qualifications or issues that might have been discovered had the credentialing process been more diligent, to participate in their network, particularly if the network is concurrently making the type of quality representations that were apparently significant issues in the Beber case.