TABLE 1.

Characteristics of the Disclosure, Apology, and Offer Model

Objective	Actions Taken by Hospital and Liability Insurer
Increase transparency regarding adverse outcomes and support physicians in disclosing adverse outcomes to patients.	• Disclose adverse outcomes of care to patients and families.
	• Investigate via root-cause analysis and explain what happened.
	• Provide an apology when appropriate.
Improve patient safety.	• Implement systems to avoid recurrence of incidents, using information from cases of medical injury and near misses to identify safety-enhancing interventions and working with hospital staff to implement them.
Avoid lawsuits, reduce liability costs, and improve access to compensation by meeting the financial needs of injured patients and their families quickly and fairly in the aftermath of an injury.	• Offer financial compensation when care was unreasonable, without the patient having to file a lawsuit.
	• Defend cases vigorously when care was reasonable.