The Authority, as a quasi-public entity, receives tasks from the State Legislature relevant to its mission areas. In the 2004 special session, the Connecticut State Legislature passed Public Act 04-1, an act requiring the Authority to create and administer a competitive grant progam to create a medical malpractice captive insurance demonstration project.

Soaring medical malpractice insurance costs have led many physicians to either leave the area or stop engaging in more risk-inherent areas of practice, including obstetrics. The State Legislature, seeking potential solutions to this dilemma, tasked the Authority with this program.

As a result of this competitive grant program, CHEFA awarded two “MedMal” grants of $750,000 each of the two jointly filed applicants listed below:

Medical Malpractice Grant #1 - Griffin Hospital and Milford Hospital

Medical Malpractice Grant #2 - Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center, Saint Mary's Hospital, The Hospital of Central Connecticut, and Bristol Hospital.

The ability to act decisively to carry out these missions for the legislature is one of the facets of CHEFA that make our Authority unique.

Public Act 04-1, May Special Session, required the Connecticut Health and Educational Facilities Authority (CHEFA) to establish a three-year demonstration program to provide grants to nonprofit hospitals that establish captive insurers, or expand coverage offered by existing captive insurers, to provide medical malpractice insurance coverage to physicians and surgeons who have hospital privileges at the hospitals.