Many states protect medical staff peer review information from discovery, meaning that a plaintiff's attorney cannot use it against individuals who participate in peer review. The purpose of the protection is to allow medical staffs to discuss peer review issues candidly and...
The National Practitioner Data Bank (NPDB) is taking a stand to protect the identities of healthcare organizations, physicians, and other healthcare practitioners. In September 2011, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) shut down its public-use data file after...
Understanding which medical staff members are eligible to serve as medical staff leaders can be challenging, particularly in markets in which hospitals compete aggressively with each other for patients and resources. On HCPro's e-mail talk group "Medical Staff Talk," one...
The Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986 (HCQIA) was created to provide immunity from monetary damages to hospitals and individual practitioners participating on medical peer review committees. HCQIA also created the National Practitioner Data Bank.
Although patient safety organizations (PSO) have been around for a couple of years, for many medical staffs, questions still linger. Hospitals aren't required to participate in a PSO, but many are considering doing so to reap the legal protections that PSOs offer.
