WEYMOUTH, Mass. -- After a patient filed a complaint against her doctor after he told her she was fat, some are wondering if doctors need a refresher course on how to talk to patients.

NewsCenter 5's Rhonda Mann reported that Dr. Peter Grape has been a successful cardiologist for more than 20 years. Last month he signed up for a $6,000 course to learn how to better talk to patients.

"The patients are more savvy, more educated, they want more answers, and I think that's good. We want to have that, even if they're more challenging to us, but it requires our communication skills to be improved upon," said Grape, of Harbor Medical Associates.

The course, called Communication and Performance Improvement, is in part, the idea of ProMutual, the largest malpractice insurance company in the Northeast. They believe more than half of malpractice cases may have been prevented if the doctor-patient relationship had been better.

"We see communication in one form or another as the No. 1 one problem," said Maureen Mondor of ProMutual.

The course teaches doctors things like how to:

Deliver bad news.

Make a patients feel comfortable during an initial interview and exam.

Convey respect to patients and in turn, gain their trust.

"If there is an incident or adverse outcome, being honest immediately and telling the patient, sitting down the patient and their family, explaining what happened and maybe even apologize for what happened," said Mondor.

The State Board of Registration in Medicine, which also worked on the project, hopes better communication may slash out-of-control malpractice insurance rates.

"I couldn't get a copy of my medical records, I couldn't get an answer about my medical test," said Nancy Achin Audesse, of the State Board of Registration Medicine. "It doesn't mean someone is a bad doctor. It means the environment has changed and, I think, the expectation of patients have changed."

Grape, who oversees 20 physicians in his practice, said he will recommend they all participate.

"I think it will improve the quality of care in our practice," said Grape.

ProMutual will send a letter to 7,000 of the doctors it insures encouraging them to sign up for the next session in October.