(a)  For the purposes of this chapter, “peer review board” means any committee of a state or local professional association or society, or any committee authorized by the director of the department of health, or a committee of any licensed emergency medical service employing practicing licensed emergency medical personnel, organized for the purpose of furnishing emergency medical services, the function of which, or one of the functions of which, is to evaluate and improve the quality of health care rendered by providers of health care service or to determine that health care services rendered were professionally indicated or were performed in compliance with the applicable standard of care or that the cost of health care rendered was considered reasonable by the providers of professional health care services in the area.

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Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 23-4.1-18

  • Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
  • Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Litigation: A case, controversy, or lawsuit. Participants (plaintiffs and defendants) in lawsuits are called litigants.
  • person: may be construed to extend to and include co-partnerships and bodies corporate and politic. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-6
  • Statute: A law passed by a legislature.

(b)  The proceedings and associated records of peer review boards shall not be subject to discovery or be admissible in evidence in any case except litigation arising out of the imposition of sanctions upon an emergency medical technician. However, any imposition or notice of a restriction of privileges, or a requirement of supervision imposed on an emergency medical technician for failure to comply with the provisions or standards of this chapter, and any regulations promulgated pursuant to § 23-4.1-10, shall be subject to discovery and be admissible in any proceeding against the emergency medical technician for performing, or against any licensed emergency medical service which allows the emergency medical technician to perform, the procedures which are the subject of the restriction or supervision during the period of the restriction or supervision, or subsequent to that period. Nothing contained in this section shall apply to records made in the regular course of business by an emergency medical service or other provider of health care information. Documents or records otherwise available from original sources are not to be construed as immune from discovery or use in any civil proceedings merely because they were presented during the proceedings of the committee.

(c)  There shall be no monetary liability on the part of, and no cause of action for damages shall arise, against any member of a duly appointed peer review board operated pursuant to written bylaws, for any act or proceeding undertaken or performed within the scope of the functions of any peer review board.

(d)  There shall be no monetary liability on the part of, and no cause of action for damages shall arise against, any person on account of the communication of information to any peer review board or the department of health or the ambulance service advisory board, when the communication is intended to aid in the evaluation of the qualifications, fitness, or character of an emergency medical technician, and does not represent as true any matter not reasonably believed to be true.

(e)  Any peer review processes authorized by statute and carried out in good faith shall have the benefit of the state action exemption to the state antitrust law.

History of Section.
P.L. 2005, ch. 242, § 1; P.L. 2005, ch. 245, § 1.