VIDALIA &045; Things still aren’t perfect for doctors, but they’re getting better.

And that may help keep more doctors in Mississippi, local physicians said.

Tort reform bills passed by the Mississippi Legislature have reined in malpractice claims in courts and doctors are starting to see the effects of that. Medical Assurance Company of Mississippi, which insures about 70 percent of the physicians in the state, recently announced a 5 percent decrease in premiums for 2006.

That’s a welcome change from the skyrocketing rates that were common in recent years. Things got so bad a few years ago that Dr. Iley Dillon, a longtime Natchez physician, packed up his office in 2002 and moved across the river to Vidalia, where doctors have more protection from malpractice lawsuits and lower malpractice insurance rates.

&8220;It was absolutely the reason I moved. The way it was in Mississippi there was absolutely no way to expect you would get reasonable settlements from jury or from a judge,&8221; Dillon said. &8220;You couldn’t even get malpractice insurance.&8221;

And Dillon wasn’t alone. About 50 percent of the doctors working in the Natchez area in 2001 are no longer here, Stubbs said. Many of those left or retired for a variety of reasons, but insurance rates likely played a part in many of those decisions.

&8220;I can’t speak for all the doctors that came over here, but I imagine it was a contributing cause to their decisions,&8221; Dillon said.

Stubbs said he has already seen some changes recently in doctors’ willingness to come to Mississippi.

&8220;We’ve already talked to a couple of doctors caught in all the hurricane mess that are looking for a place to come to and they’re really thinking about coming here,&8221; Stubbs said. &8220;It used to be

when you mentioned Mississippi, that was the end of the conversation.&8221;

The real change in keeping doctors in state may come when, and if, national insurance companies start offering malpractice insurance in Mississippi again, Stubbs said.

For now, things have gotten better, though Dillon said he still hopes to see more progress.

&8220;Mississippi was in a true crisis, amd the changes that have happened have made Mississippi a lot more attractive,&8221; Dillon said. &8220;Doctors just can’t afford to pay the kind of increases we were seeing. Expenses keep going up, but your income is locked in.&8221;