In re Rockwall Reg’l Hosp., LLC — Mar. 2016 (Summary)

PEER REVIEW PRIVILEGE

In re Rockwall Reg’l Hosp., LLC
No. 05-15-01554-CV (Tex. App. Mar. 2, 2016)

The Court of Appeals of Texas granted a writ of mandamus requested by a hospital to vacate a trial court’s ruling to produce certain documents allegedly protected by medical peer review committee and medical committee privileges. The litigation with a physician-owned hospital arose out of a dispute about the buy-back of a physician’s shares after he ended his relationship with the hospital. Believing that other physicians received more favorable compensation for their shares, the physician sought the production of peer review and credentialing files related to other practitioners.

The trial court applied a routine business records exception in the state peer review statute to the requested documents when it determined that they were not privileged. The Court of Appeals disagreed when it conducted an in-camera review. It reasoned that the documents on their face related to the credentialing or re-credentialing process. Accordingly, the documents were protected by the medical peer review committee privilege and the trial court abused its discretion.