channeling
A program in which a hospital and its affiliated physicians (i.e., physicians
employed by the hospital and independent contractor physicians who have admitting
privileges) are insured under a master medical malpractice policy issued by
one insurer. Depending on the type of channeling program, the hospital and the
physicians may or may not share limits of liability. The two advantages of channeling
programs are cost effectiveness and a common defense team, which reduces the
adversarial relationship when hospitals and physicians are named in the same
malpractice suit. One downside of such arrangements is that they give the hospital
considerable power over the claims administration process, so that physicians
in a channeling program rarely have the authority to object to the settlement
of a claim.
Links for IRMI Online Subscribers Only:
PLI XVI.E