Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 44, November 2, 2024
Section 1021.63 - Peer review(a)Persons subject to peer review. Peer review under this section may be conducted of EMS providers, EMS agency medical directors and medical command physicians.(b)Purpose. The purpose of peer review conducted under this section is to evaluate the quality and efficiency of services performed under this part by EMS providers, EMS agency medical directors and medical command physicians. This includes reviews to:(1) Evaluate and improve the quality of EMS rendered.(2) Determine whether the direction and supervision of EMS providers was in accordance with accepted standards.(3) Determine whether the EMS provided or not provided was in accordance with accepted standards of care.(c)Composition of peer review committee. A peer review committee established under this section may include health care providers such as EMS providers, EMS agency medical directors and other physicians, nurses, physician assistants, EMS agency managers and administrators, hospital personnel with expertise in quality assurance and PSAP dispatchers and administrators.(d)Proceedings and records of a peer review committee. The proceedings and records of a peer review committee conducted under this section have the same protections from discovery and introduction into evidence in civil proceedings as they would under the Peer Review Protection Act (63 P. S. §§ 425.1-425.4). A person who attends a meeting of a peer review committee has the same right as a person who attends a meeting of a review organization under the Peer Review Protection Act with respect to not testifying in a civil action as to evidence or other matters produced or presented during the peer review proceeding or as to findings, recommendations, evaluations, opinions or other actions of the peer review committee or other records thereof. These protections do not apply to records that are reviewed in peer review, but were not created for the sole purpose of being reviewed in a peer review proceeding. A person who testifies before a peer review committee or who is a member of a peer review committee is not protected from testifying as to matters within that person's knowledge, except as to that person's testimony before the peer review committee, matters learned by that person through that person's participation in the peer review committee's proceeding or opinions formed by that person as a result of the peer review proceeding.(e)Persons who provide information to a peer review committee. A person who provides information to a peer review committee conducting peer review under this section has the same protections from civil and criminal liability as a person who provides information to a review organization under the Peer Review Protection Act.(f)Members and employees of a peer review committee and persons who furnish professional services to a peer review committee. An individual who is a member or employee of a peer review committee or who provides professional services to a peer review committee conducting peer review under this section has the same protections from civil and criminal liability for the performance of any duty, function or activity required of the peer review committee as a person who performs the duty, function or activity under the Peer Review Protection Act.