The information on this page was last updated by Horty, Springer & Mattern on March 23, 2021.
NEW YORK
PEER REVIEW
N.Y. Educ. Law §6527 Special provisions
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3. No individual who serves as a member of (a) a committee established to administer a utilization review plan of a hospital, including a hospital as defined in article twenty-eight of the public health law or a hospital as defined in subdivision ten of section 1.03 of the mental hygiene law, or (b) a committee having the responsibility of the investigation of an incident reported pursuant to section 29.29 of the mental hygiene law or the evaluation and improvement of the quality of care rendered in a hospital as defined in article twenty-eight of the public health law or a hospital as defined in subdivision ten of section1.03 of the mental hygiene law, or (c) any medical review committee or subcommittee thereof of a local, county or state medical, dental, podiatry or optometrical society, any such society itself, a professional standards review organization or an individual when such committee, subcommittee, society, organization or individual is performing any medical or quality assurance review function including the investigation of an incident reported pursuant to section 29.29 of the mental hygiene law, either described in clauses (a) and (b) of this subdivision, required by law, or involving any controversy or dispute between (i) a physician, dentist, podiatrist or optometrist or hospital administrator and a patient concerning the diagnosis, treatment or care of such patient or the fees or charges therefor or (ii) a physician, dentist, podiatrist or optometrist or hospital administrator and a provider of medical, dental, podiatric or optometrical services concerning any medical or health charges or fees of such physician, dentist, podiatrist or optometrist, or (d) a committee appointed pursuant to section twenty-eight hundred five-j of the public health law to participate in the medical and dental malpractice prevention program, or (e) any individual who participated in the preparation of incident reports required by the department of health pursuant to section twenty-eight hundred five-l of the public health law, or (f) a committee established to administer a utilization review plan, or a committee having the responsibility of evaluation and improvement of the quality of care rendered in a health maintenance organization organized under article forty-four of the public health law or article forty-three of the insurance law, including a committee of an individual practice association or medical group acting pursuant to a contract with such a health maintenance organization, shall be liable in damages to any person for any action taken or recommendations made, by him within the scope of his function in such capacity provided that (a) such individual has taken action or made recommendations within the scope of his function and without malice, and (b) in the reasonable belief after reasonable investigation that the act or recommendation was warranted, based upon the facts disclosed.
Neither the proceedings nor the records relating to performance of a medical or quality assurance review function or participation in a medical and dental malpractice prevention program nor any report required by the department of health pursuant to section twenty-eight hundred five-l of the public health law described herein, including the investigation of an incident reported pursuant to section 29.29 of the mental hygiene law, shall be subject to disclosure under article thirty-one of the civil practice law and rules except as hereinafter provided or as provided by any other provision of law. No person in attendance at a meeting when a medical or a quality assurance review or a medical and dental malpractice prevention program or an incident reporting function described herein was performed, including the investigation of an incident reported pursuant to section 29.29 of the mental hygiene law, shall be required to testify as to what transpired thereat. The prohibition relating to discovery of testimony shall not apply to the statements made by any person in attendance at such a meeting who is a party to an action or proceeding the subject matter of which was reviewed at such meeting.
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5. There shall be no monetary liability on the part of, and no cause of action for damages shall arise against, any person, partnership, corporation, firm, society, or other entity on account of the communication of information in the possession of such person or entity, or on account of any recommendation or evaluation, regarding the qualifications, fitness, or professional conduct or practices of a physician, to any governmental agency, medical or specialists society, a hospital as defined in article twenty-eight of the public health law, a hospital as defined in subdivision ten of section 1.03 of the mental hygiene law, or a health maintenance organization organized under article forty-four of the public health law or article forty-three of the insurance law, including a committee of an individual practice association or medical group acting pursuant to a contract with a health maintenance organization. The foregoing shall not apply to information which is untrue and communicated with malicious intent.
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N.Y. Public Health Law §2805-j. Medical, dental and podiatric malpractice prevention program
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2. Any person who, in good faith and without malice, provides information to further the purposes of the medical, dental and podiatric malpractice prevention program or who, in good faith and without malice, participates on the quality assurance committee shall not be subject to an action for civil damages or other relief as a result of such activity. Any hospital, or any person acting on behalf of such hospital, who, in good faith and without malice, takes or fails to take any action as a result of a review conducted pursuant to paragraph (b) or (c) of subdivision one of this section, shall not be subject to an action for civil damages or other monetary relief as a result of such action or failure to act, provided, however, that nothing in this subdivision shall relieve any hospital of any liability in an action for medical, dental or podiatric malpractice based on an act or failure to act as a result of a review conducted pursuant to paragraph (b) or (c) of subdivision one of this section, and provided further that nothing herein shall affect the authority of the commissioner pursuant to this chapter.
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