NEW YORK — New York has one of the highest medical malpractice reporting rates in the United States, according to a new 50-state analysis from High Rise Financial.
The study ranks New York No. 2 nationwide, with 97.2 medical malpractice reports per 1,000 practitioners. Only New Mexico recorded a higher rate at 115.7 reports per 1,000.
Researchers examined malpractice reports from 2022 through 2026. During that period, New York recorded 5,321 reports across 54,748 medical practitioners.
The national average was 43.6 reports per 1,000 practitioners. Therefore, New York’s reported rate was about 123% higher than the national average.
New York sits near the top
New Mexico led the study despite having a much smaller medical workforce. The state recorded 731 reports among 6,319 practitioners.
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania finished just behind New York. It recorded 95.9 reports per 1,000 practitioners.
Florida ranked fourth at 83.0, followed by New Jersey at 76.1. Hawaii, Georgia, South Carolina, Connecticut and Kansas completed the top 10.
The numbers also show large differences between neighboring states.
New Jersey’s rate was more than 20 points below New York’s. Connecticut came in at 62.0 reports per 1,000 practitioners.
More than 5,300 reports in five years
New York’s size makes its numbers especially notable.
The state recorded 5,321 malpractice reports during the five-year period. That works out to an average of nearly three reports per day across the study period.
However, the figures should not be read as proof that nearly three patients were harmed every day.
A malpractice report is not automatically the same as a confirmed case of medical negligence or an individual malpractice victim. The study measures reports against the number of practitioners to compare states on a common scale.
Still, the data places New York well above most of the country.
Sharp differences across America
The gap becomes even clearer when New York is compared with states near the bottom of the rankings.
Maine ranked No. 46 with 20.6 reports per 1,000 practitioners. Arkansas followed at 20.4, while Wyoming recorded 19.4.
Minnesota ranked 49th at 15.1.
North Dakota finished last with 11.3 reports per 1,000 practitioners. That puts New York’s rate at more than eight times North Dakota’s level.
New York also recorded far more total reports. North Dakota reported 31 during the period, compared with New York’s 5,321.
What the rankings measure
High Rise Financial calculated each state’s rate by comparing total malpractice reports with the number of medical practitioners.
Researchers then ranked all 50 states from highest to lowest.
That method provides a way to compare states with very different healthcare workforces. However, the results do not necessarily show where patients receive the best or worst medical care.
Reporting rules, legal systems, settlement patterns and other factors can affect malpractice data. As a result, the rankings offer one view of malpractice activity rather than a complete measure of healthcare quality.
New York remains an outlier
Even with those limits, New York’s position stands out.
Its 97.2 rate places the state far above the national average and behind only New Mexico. Moreover, New York combines that high rate with one of the largest practitioner totals included in the analysis.
For patients, healthcare providers and policymakers, the findings raise broader questions about why malpractice reporting varies so sharply from one state to another.
The study also highlights how dramatically the legal and healthcare landscape can change depending on where Americans live.
Additional malpractice information is available through the National Practitioner Data Bank.
The research was conducted and provided by High Rise Financial.
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