§ 23-4.1-18. Peer review boards — Definition, activities and immunities.
(a) For the purposes of this chapter, "peer review board� means any committee of a state
or local professional association or society, or any committee authorized by the director
of the department of health, or a committee of any licensed emergency medical service
employing practicing licensed emergency medical personnel, organized for the purpose
of furnishing emergency medical services, the function of which, or one of the functions
of which, is to evaluate and improve the quality of health care rendered by providers
of health care service or to determine that health care services rendered were professionally
indicated or were performed in compliance with the applicable standard of care or
that the cost of health care rendered was considered reasonable by the providers of
professional health care services in the area.
(b) The proceedings and associated records of peer review boards shall not be subject
to discovery or be admissible in evidence in any case except litigation arising out
of the imposition of sanctions upon an emergency medical technician. However, any
imposition or notice of a restriction of privileges, or a requirement of supervision
imposed on an emergency medical technician for failure to comply with the provisions
or standards of this chapter, and any regulations promulgated pursuant to § 23-4.1-10, shall be subject to discovery and be admissible in any proceeding against the emergency
medical technician for performing, or against any licensed emergency medical service
which allows the emergency medical technician to perform, the procedures which are
the subject of the restriction or supervision during the period of the restriction
or supervision, or subsequent to that period. Nothing contained in this section shall
apply to records made in the regular course of business by an emergency medical service
or other provider of health care information. Documents or records otherwise available
from original sources are not to be construed as immune from discovery or use in any
civil proceedings merely because they were presented during the proceedings of the
committee.
(c) There shall be no monetary liability on the part of, and no cause of action for damages
shall arise, against any member of a duly appointed peer review board operated pursuant
to written bylaws, for any act or proceeding undertaken or performed within the scope
of the functions of any peer review board.
(d) There shall be no monetary liability on the part of, and no cause of action for damages
shall arise against, any person on account of the communication of information to
any peer review board or the department of health or the ambulance service advisory
board, when the communication is intended to aid in the evaluation of the qualifications,
fitness, or character of an emergency medical technician, and does not represent as
true any matter not reasonably believed to be true.
(e) Any peer review processes authorized by statute and carried out in good faith shall
have the benefit of the state action exemption to the state antitrust law.