President Barack Obama has been sympathetic to the argument that doctors sometimes call for unnecessary tests and procedures for fear of lawsuits. But Obama has also rejected a favorite Republican solution: capping jury awards.

During the campaign, Obama offered the idea of strengthening antitrust laws to prevent insurance companies from overcharging for malpractice insurance. This was not one of his more prominent ideas, though. It was in his campaign literature, but we weren't able to find an instance of him actually talking about the idea.

Now that Obama has been president, we haven't seen him urging the use of antitrust law as a means of controlling malpractice insurance premiums.

Instead, Obama wants states to try out new ideas for handling malpractice. He directed Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to launch a grant program to fund those ideas.

"This new initiative will give states the chance to apply for grants that would support projects that help reduce lawsuits and promote patient safety," Sebelius said in September, mentioning early disclosure and certificate of merit programs as possible ideas.

"Early disclosure programs would encourage doctors to disclose errors earlier rather than later, apologize where appropriate, and turn to mediation, rather than malpractice suits as a solution," Sebelius said. "Certificate of merit programs would require individuals to obtain an affidavit issued by experts or panels of doctors that states that the case has merit before proceeding in court."

The department has released guidance indicating that states will be able to apply beginning Dec. 27, 2009.

The grants are not how Obama said he would address malpractice during the campaign. But they are a different way of getting to a similar outcome. So we rate this promise Compromise.