• Channeling is a program under which the hospital and its affiliated physicians (i.e. physicians employed by the hospital and eligible independent contract physicians) are insured under a master malpractice policy issued by one insurance company. company. Depending on the type of channeling program, the hospital and physicians may or may not share the responsibility. Two of the benefits of channeled programs are cost effectiveness and a shared defense team, which reduces hostilities when hospitals and physicians are involved in the same malpractice suit. One disadvantage of such arrangements is that they give the hospital considerable power over the claims administration process, such that physicians involved in a channeled program rarely have the right to object to the settlement of a claim.