§ 23-34-01 — Definitions

As used in this chapter:
1. "Health care organization" means:
a. A hospital;
b. A hospital medical staff;
c. A clinic;
d. A long-term or extended care facility;
e. An ambulatory surgery center;
f. An emergency medical services unit;
g. A physician;
h. A group of physicians operating a clinic or outpatient care facility;
i. A pharmacist;
j. A pharmacy;
k. An association or organization, whether domestic or foreign, of medical
institutions or medical professionals;
l. A nonprofit corporation, whether domestic or foreign, that owns, operates, or is
established by any entity set forth in subdivisions a through i;
m. Any combination of entities set forth in subdivisions a through j;
n. Any federally designated state peer review organization; or
o. Any state designated multi-disciplinary peer review entity designated to evaluate
controlled substance practices in a referred case.
2. "Health care provider" means a physician or other individual licensed, certified, or
otherwise authorized by the law of this state to provide health care services.
3. "Peer review organization" means:
a. A health care organization; or
b. A committee of a health care organization which:
(1) Is composed of health care providers, employees, administrators,
consultants, agents, or members of the health care organization's governing
body; and
(2) Conducts professional peer review.
4. a. "Peer review records" means:
(1) Data, information, reports, documents, findings, compilations and
summaries, testimony, and any other records generated by, acquired by, or
given to a peer review organization as a part of any professional peer
review, regardless of when the record was created; and
(2) Communications relating to a professional peer review, whether written or
oral, between:
(a) Peer review organization members;
(b) Peer review organization members and the peer review organization's
staff; or
(c) Peer review organization members and other individuals participating
in a professional peer review, including the individual who is the
subject of the professional peer review.
b. The term does not include original patient source documents.
5. "Professional peer review" means all procedures a peer review organization uses or
functions it performs to monitor, evaluate, and take action to review the medical care
provided to patients by health care organizations or health care providers and includes
procedures or functions to:
a. Evaluate and improve the quality of health care;
b. Obtain and disseminate data and statistics relative to the treatment and
prevention of disease, illness, or injury;
c. Develop and establish guidelines for medical care and the costs of medical care;

d. Provide to other affiliated or nonaffiliated peer review organizations information
that is originally generated within the peer review organization for the purposes of
professional peer review;
e. Identify or analyze trends in medical error, using among other things a
standardized incident reporting system; and
f. Provide quality assurance.