"These immediate steps will ease some cash-flow problems for healthcare providers who are facing the rising costs of medical malpractice insurance," Gov. Schweiker said in a statement.

He added that he's also been talking with many of the state lawmakers who are concerned with solving a malpractice problem that has existed in Pennsylvania for more than a generation.

Rosanne Placey, spokesperson for the Pennsylvania Insurance Department, explained, "In our state, medical providers have to carry $1 million in malpractice coverage. They get a portion of that from the private marketplace and they get the catastrophic layer from Mcare."

In many cases, these collections are due in January when the majority of physicians would also be paying for their primary coverage. Furthermore, some of these doctors have had to secure coverage through the Joint Underwriting Association, which is widely known as the insurer of last resort and has significantly higher premiums than what the private marketplace offers, Ms. Placey said.

"So the Governor has requested that we postpone Mcare fund assessment collection until April," she said. "This provides a short-term solution so that doctors don't face a sticker shock: having to pay unexpectedly high premiums at the same time their Mcare assessment payments are due."

Additionally, Gov. Schweiker has also asked the state's JUA to examine whether it can accept premium payments on an installment basis for its six-month policies.

"Admittedly, these recent measures are short term, but they will ease some of the burden for insureds and will give the new administration some leeway in addressing the medical malpractice insurance situation in the longer term," Ms. Placey said.

This is the latest effort by Gov. Schweiker to reform medical malpractice insurance in Pennsylvania; in June, he signed legislation to modify the state's joint and several liability law, allowing a hospital or business to only pay to the degree of responsibility assigned by a judge or jury. Previously, a hospital ruled to be responsible for only a fraction of the damages could still be held responsible for the entire award.

And earlier this month, the state's insurance department approved JUA filings to offer a 15 percent premium discount to loss-free healthcare providers beginning next year.

As the state's mandated insurer of last resort for malpractice insurance, the JUA offers coverage to healthcare providers who have been declined insurance in the private marketplace. With the new revision, it will now be able to offer a discounted rate to physicians with a clean claims history.