Patient safety work product privilege at center of possible Supreme Court case

Hospitals and patient safety organizations (PSO) across the country are eagerly awaiting to see if the U.S. Supreme Court will hear a case that address the question of the scope of privilege and confidentiality protections afforded under the federal law to reports, analyses, and studies relating to a hospital's patient safety activities, which are collected within its patient safety evaluation system and reported to a PSO. The other question is whether this federal law, known as the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (PSQIA), preempts state law that otherwise would permit the discovery of this sensitive information.

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