Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-9. Reports relating to professional conduct and capacity – Regulations – Confidentiality – Immunity
In addition to the requirements of § 42-14-2.1:
(1) The board, with the approval of the director, may adopt regulations requiring any person, including, but not limited to, corporations, healthcare facilities, health-maintenance organizations, organizations, federal, state, or local governmental agencies, and peer-review boards to report to the board any conviction, determination, or finding that a licensed physician has committed unprofessional conduct as defined by § 5-37-5.1, or to report information that indicates that a licensed physician may not be able to practice medicine with reasonable skill and safety to patients as the result of any mental or physical condition. The regulations shall include the reporting requirements of subsections (2)(i), (2)(ii), and (2)(iii) of this section.
(2) The following reports, in writing, shall be filed with the board:
(i) Every insurer providing professional liability insurance to a physician licensed under the provisions of this chapter shall send a complete report to the board presenting notice of any civil action filed, settlement of any claim or cause of action, or final judgment rendered in any cause of action for damages for death or personal injury caused by the physician’s negligence, error, or omission in practice, or his or her rendering of unauthorized professional services. This report shall be sent within thirty (30) days after notice of any civil action filed, settlement, judgment, or arbitration award. All of these reports shall present an in-depth factual summary of the claim in question. Commencing July 1, 1997, all reports of final judgments or settlements shall specify the class or category of risk for which the physician is insured identified by Insurance Services Organization (“ISO”) Code and, in the case of joint and several liability, shall specify the portion of the total award paid by or on behalf of the physician.
(ii) All hospital and licensed healthcare facilities including, but not limited to, nursing homes and health-maintenance organizations and the director of health must report to the board within thirty (30) days of this action, any action, disciplinary or otherwise, taken for any reason, that limits, suspends, or revokes a physician’s privilege to practice or requires supervision of a physician, either through formal action by the institution or facility or through any voluntary agreement with the physician.
(iii) Within ten (10) days after a judgment by a court of this state that a physician licensed under the provisions of this chapter has been convicted of a crime or is civilly liable for any death or personal injury caused by his or her negligence, error, or omission in his or her practice, or his or her rendering unauthorized professional services, the clerk of the court that rendered this judgment shall report the judgment to the board.
(3) The board shall publicly report any change of privilege, of which it is aware, to the board of trustees or other appropriate body of all licensed hospitals, licensed healthcare facilities, health-maintenance organizations, and other parties, as the board deems appropriate, within thirty (30) days. Except as required by § 5-37-9.2 notwithstanding the provisions of this subsection, the board may, in instances where the change of privilege is not related to quality of patient care, elect not to disseminate the report of change in privilege. This election may be made in executive session and no decision not to disseminate shall be made except by majority vote of the members present at the meeting and only upon a finding of fact by the board after inquiry that the change of privilege was not related to quality of patient care.
(4) Except as provided in § 5-37-9.2, the contents of any report file shall be confidential and exempt from public disclosure, except that it may be reviewed:
(i) By the licensee involved or his or her counsel or authorized representative who may submit any additional exculpatory or explanatory statements or other information, which statements or other information is included in the file; or
(ii) By the chief administrative officer, a representative of the board, or investigator of the board, who has been assigned to review the activities of a licensed physician.
(5) Upon determination that a report is without merit, the board’s records may be purged of information relating to the report.
(6) If any person refuses to furnish a required report, the board may petition the superior court of any county in which the person resides or is found, and the court shall issue to this person an order to furnish the required report. Any failure to comply with this order constitutes civil contempt.
(7) Every individual, medical association, medical society, hospital, healthcare facility, health-maintenance organization, peer-review board, medical-service bureau, health-insurance carrier or agent, professional-standards review organization, and agency of the federal, state, or local government is immune from civil liability, whether direct or derivative, for providing information in good faith to the board pursuant to this section or the regulations outlined in subsection (1) of this section or requirements of subsection (2) of this section.
(8) Nondisclosure agreements are prohibited insofar as they forbid parties from making reports regarding competency and/or unprofessional conduct to the board of medical licensure and discipline.
(9) The board, with the approval of the director, shall promulgate rules and regulations prescribing standards for hospital or health-maintenance organization supervision of physicians by peer-review committees. These regulations shall require that each hospital or health-maintenance organization report annually to the board the activities, findings, studies, and determinations of its peer-review committees.
History of Section.
P.L. 1986, ch. 301, § 6; P.L. 1987, ch. 522, § 9; P.L. 1997, ch. 30, art. 28, § 3; P.L. 1997, ch. 348, § 2; P.L. 1998, ch. 449, § 1.
Terms Used In Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-9
- Board: means the Rhode Island board of medical licensure and discipline or any committee or subcommittee thereof. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-1
- Chief administrative officer: means the administrator of the Rhode Island board of medical licensure and discipline. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-1
- Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- Director: means the director of the Rhode Island department of health. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-1
- Executive session: A portion of the Senate's daily session in which it considers executive business.
- Health-maintenance organization: means a public or private organization licensed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 17 of Title 23 or chapter 41 of Title 27. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-1
- Healthcare facility: means any institutional health-service provider licensed pursuant to the provisions of chapter 17 of Title 23. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-1
- in writing: include printing, engraving, lithographing, and photo-lithographing, and all other representations of words in letters of the usual form. See Rhode Island General Laws 43-3-16
- Peer-review board: means any committee of a state or local professional association or society including a hospital association, or a committee of any licensed healthcare facility, or the medical staff thereof, or any committee of a medical-care foundation or health-maintenance organization, or any committee of a professional-service corporation or nonprofit corporation employing twenty (20) or more practicing professionals, organized for the purpose of furnishing medical service, or any staff committee or consultant of a hospital-service or medical-service corporation, 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 healthcare services or to determine that healthcare 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 healthcare services in the area and shall include a committee functioning as a utilization-review committee under the provisions of Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-1
- Person: means any individual, partnership, firm, corporation, association, trust or estate, state or political subdivision, or instrumentality of a state. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-1
- Physician: means a person with a license to practice allopathic or osteopathic medicine in this state under the provisions of this chapter. See Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-1
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- unprofessional conduct: as used in this chapter includes, but is not limited to, the following items or any combination of these items and may be further defined by regulations established by the board with the prior approval of the director:
(1) Fraudulent or deceptive procuring or use of a license or limited registration;
(2) All advertising of medical business that is intended or has a tendency to deceive the public;
(3) Conviction of a felony; conviction of a crime arising out of the practice of medicine;
(4) Abandoning a patient;
(5) Dependence upon controlled substances, habitual drunkenness, or rendering professional services to a patient while the physician or limited registrant is intoxicated or incapacitated by the use of drugs;
(6) Promotion by a physician or limited registrant of the sale of drugs, devices, appliances, or goods or services provided for a patient in a manner as to exploit the patient for the financial gain of the physician or limited registrant;
(7) Immoral conduct of a physician or limited registrant in the practice of medicine;
(8) Willfully making and filing false reports or records in the practice of medicine;
(9) Willfully omitting to file or record, or willfully impeding or obstructing a filing or recording, or inducing another person to omit to file or record, medical or other reports as required by law;
(10) Failing to furnish details of a patient's medical record to succeeding physicians, healthcare facility, or other healthcare providers upon proper request pursuant to Rhode Island General Laws 5-37-5.1