Or election wake, whichever you prefer, will the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) be repealed? We doubt it. More likely it will be modified in places, held up in hearings or starved through denial of planned appropriations.

Meanwhile, in the spirit of bipartisanship (if such a spirit still lives these days), we think a good issue to pursue is medical tort reform. We don’t mean merely putting caps on awards in place but using special health courts instead of juries to resolve disputes and giving physicians and others solid protection from lawsuits if they follow evidence-based guidelines where applicable. This won’t necessarily make an appreciable dent in reducing medical costs, as some proponents of tort reform claim, but it could begin to foster a climate of transparency and an openness to sharing information on best practices – and mistakes – that foster collegiality and team-based care. Certainly that is better than the climate of fear and retribution the current litigious culture fosters.

This would require taking on a powerful trial lawyer constituency. Political courage and leadership, in other words.