The laws haven't changed over the last few years, yet the cost of healthcare has increased way more than the total in tort settlements. Even though reimbursement of healthcare costs is a big part of those settlements.

Given those figures, I'd guess that "avoiding liability" is a convienent excuse for running up the bill in many cases. If the laws aren't changing, and the amount of settlements awarded is actually decreasing relative to the cost of care, why is care going up so fast? Why spend more money avoiding liability this year than last year, if the odds of being sued have actually gone down?

Of course, expenses incurred doing better medicine and not screwing up as opposed to reducing liability are probably a good idea.