The Wall Street Journal (Online and Print)

To cut medical-malpractice costs, five New York City hospitals have agreed to a pilot program to divulge medical mistakes early, offer settlements quickly and use special state "health courts,'' where judges will help negotiate agreements before cases go to trial.

The program, funded for three years with $3 million from the federal government, aims to cut the $1.4 billion spent annually in New York State on medical-malpractice premiums, hospital and state officials say. It is one of several programs being funded by the federal government to encourage hospitals to acknowledge and reduce medical errors.

The hospitals in the project, which starts this fall, are Beth Israel Medical Center, Mount Sinai Medical Center and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, all in Manhattan; Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn; and Montefiore Medical Center, the Bronx.

Four of the five hospitals will focus their safety programs and mediation efforts to reduce errors in obstetrics, one of the costliest services hospitals provide. One hospital, New York-Presbyterian, is focusing on preventing surgical errors.

Hospitals already offer settlements to patients when errors occur, officials said. The pilot program offers another forum for resolution: allowing consenting parties to go to a judge to mediate disputes.

The hospitals and the court system are still working out details. Some things have been decided: At least one judge, and likely a few more, will be assigned to handle disputes for the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan in specially assigned courtrooms.

Judge Judy Harris Kluger, chief of policy and planning for New York State's Unified Court System, who is overseeing the project, said there are 900 malpractice cases pending now, but that she doesn't know how many cases will go through mediation. Other hospitals, she said, have expressed interest, but that the program will not be expanded for now. "Early discussion and settlement benefits everyone involved,'' she said.