Court rules medical staff applications are discoverable

The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that information collected under the Health Care Professional Credentials Data Collection Act (Credentials Act) is confidential but not privileged. Because of this ruling, a hospital being sued for negligent credentialing has to produce the medical staff application and reapplication of the physician in question.

The hospital argued that the Credentials Act made the medical staff application both confidential and privileged from discovery.

The court rejected this argument. Citing other court cases, the court stated that confidential information is not the same as statutorily privileged information and therefore could be subject to discovery if found to be relevant to the claim being brought. Because the hospital was being sued for negligent credentialing, the medical staff application and reapplication would be relevant to this case.

Source: The National Law Review