Source: https://www.hortyspringer.com/peer-review-statutes-by-state/south-carolina-peer-review-statute/
Timestamp: 2020-08-10 01:54:52
Document Index: 78706625

Matched Legal Cases: ['§ 40', '§ 40', '§ 40', '§ 40', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 44', '§ 38']

South Carolina Peer Review Statute
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This information was last updated by Horty, Springer & Mattern on June 25, 2019.
S.C. Code Ann. § 40-71-10 Members of certain professional committees exempt from tort liability.
(A) “Professional society” as used in this chapter includes legal, medical, osteopathic, optometric, chiropractic, psychological, dental, accounting, pharmaceutic, and engineering organizations having as members at least a majority of the eligible licentiates in the area served by the particular society and any foundations composed of members of these societies. It also includes the South Carolina Law Enforcement Accreditation Council.
(B) There is no monetary liability on the part of, and no cause of action for damages arising against, a member of an appointed committee which is formed to maintain professional standards of a state or local professional society as defined in this section or a committee appointed by the Department of Mental Health, or a committee appointed by the Department of Health and Environmental Control to review patient medical and health records in order to study the causes of death and disease for any act or proceeding undertaken or performed within the scope of the functions of the committee if the committee member acts without malice, has made a reasonable effort to obtain the facts relating to the matter under consideration, and acts in the belief that the action taken by him is warranted by the facts known to him.
(D) The provisions of this section do not affect the official immunity of an officer or employee of a public corporation.
§ 40-71-20 Confidentiality of certain proceedings, records and information; reporting accidents and incidents.
(A) All proceedings of and all data and information acquired by the committee referred to in § 40-71-10 in the exercise of its duties are confidential unless a respondent in the proceeding requests in writing that they be made public. These proceedings and documents are not subject to discovery, subpoena or introduction into evidence in any civil action except upon appeal from the committee action. Information, documents or records which are otherwise available from original sources are not immune from discovery or use in a civil action merely because they were presented during the committee proceedings, nor shall any complainant or witness before the committee be prevented from testifying in a civil action as to matters of which he has knowledge apart from the committee proceedings or revealing such matters of which he has knowledge apart from the committee proceedings or revealing such matters to third persons.
(B) Confidentiality provisions do not prevent committees appointed by the Department of Health and Environmental Control from issuing reports containing solely nonidentifying data and information.
(C) Nothing in this section affects the duty of a facility or activity license by the Department of Health and Environmental Control to report accidents or incidents pursuant to the department’s regulations. Provided, however, anything reported pursuant to the department’s regulations shall not be considered to waive any privilege or confidentiality provided in subsection (A).
§ 40-71-30. Judicial review of documents claimed to be confidential; penalty against party found to be unreasonably asserting confidentiality.
When a party asserts a claim of confidentiality over documents pursuant to Section 40-71-20 and the party seeking the documents objects, the documents must be filed under seal with the circuit court having jurisdiction over the pending action and are subject to judicial review by the circuit court judge. If the court determines that any of the documents are not subject to confidentiality pursuant to Section 40-71-20 and are otherwise discoverable, the court shall provide the documents to the requesting party. In the event the court finds that a party acted unreasonably in unsuccessfully asserting the claim of confidentiality, the court shall assess attorney’s fees against that party for any fees incurred by the requesting party in obtaining the documents.
§ 44-7-390. No liability or cause of action against a hospital for certain acts or proceedings.
There is no monetary liability on the part of, and no cause of action for damages arising against, a hospital licensed under this article, its parent, subsidiaries, health care system, physician practices owned by the hospital (its parent or subsidiaries), directors, officers, agents, employees, medical staff members, external reviewers, witnesses, or a member of any committee of a licensed hospital, whether permanent or ad hoc, including the hospital’s governing body, for any act or proceeding undertaken or performed without malice, made after reasonable effort to obtain the facts, and the action taken was in the belief that it is warranted by the facts known, arising out of or relating to:
(1) sentinel event investigations or root cause analyses, or both, as prescribed by the joint commission or any other organization under whose accreditation a hospital is deemed to meet the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ conditions of participation;
(2) investigations into the competence or conduct of hospital employees, agents, members of the hospital’s medical staff or other practitioners, relating to the quality of patient care, and any disciplinary proceedings or fair hearings related thereto, provided the medical staff operates pursuant to written bylaws that have been approved by the governing body of the hospital;
(6) reviews or investigations to evaluate the quality of care provided by hospital employees, agents, members of the hospital’s medical staff, or other practitioners; or
(7) reports or statements, including, but not limited to, those reports or statements to the National Practitioner Data Bank and the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners, that provide analysis or opinion (including external reviews) relating to the quality of care provided by hospital employees, agents, members of the hospital’s medical staff, or other practitioners.
§ 44-7-392. Confidentiality of hospital proceedings, data, documents, and information.
(A)(1) All proceedings of, and all data, documents, records, and information prepared or acquired by, a hospital licensed under this article, its parent, subsidiaries, health care system, committees, whether permanent or ad hoc, including the hospital’s governing body, or physician practices owned by the hospital (its parent or subsidiaries), relating to the following are confidential:
(a) sentinel event investigations or root cause analyses, or both, as prescribed by the joint commission or any other organization under whose accreditation a hospital is deemed to meet the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ conditions of participation;
(b) investigations into the competence or conduct of hospital employees, agents, members of the hospital’s medical staff or other practitioners, relating to the quality of patient care, and any disciplinary proceedings or fair hearings related thereto;
(f) reviews or investigations to evaluate the quality of care provided by hospital employees, agents, members of the hospital’s medical staff, or other practitioners; or
(g) reports or statements, including, but not limited to, those reports or statements to the National Practitioner Data Bank and the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners, that provide analysis or opinion (including external reviews) relating to the quality of care provided by hospital employees, agents, members of the hospital’s medical staff, or other practitioners; or
(2) The proceedings and data, documents, records, and information described in subsection (A)(1) may be shared with a parent corporation, subsidiaries, other hospitals in the health care system, directors, officers, employees, and agents of the hospital and if shared, remain confidential. These proceedings and data, documents, records, and information in subsection (A)(1) are not subject to discovery, subpoena, or introduction into evidence in any civil action unless the hospital and any affected person who is a party to such action waives the confidentiality in writing. Notwithstanding the foregoing, however, in the event an affected person asserts a claim in any civil action against a hospital, its parent, affiliates, directors, officers, agents, employees, or member of any committee of a licensed hospital, relating to any proceeding identified in subsection (A)(1), the hospital may, without consultation with the affected person, waive confidentiality in that civil action. Likewise, if a hospital asserts a claim in any civil action against an affected person relating to any proceeding identified in subsection (A)(1) in which the affected person was a party, the affected person may use information in the affected person’s possession that is otherwise confidential under this section in that civil action.
(4) This subsection does not make confidential the outcome of a practitioner’s application for medical staff membership or clinical privileges, nor does it make confidential the list of clinical privileges requested by the practitioner or the list of clinical privileges that were approved. However, the practitioner’s application for medical staff membership or clinical privileges, and all supporting documentation submitted or requested for the application are confidential. Nevertheless, the application itself may be obtained from the physician requesting privileges or the practice where the physician works as an employee or an independent contractor.
(6) There is nothing in this section which makes any part of a patient’s medical record confidential from the patient, including any redactions, corrections, supplements, or amendments to the patient’s record, whether electronic or written.
(C) Nothing in this section affects the duty of a hospital licensed by the Department of Health and Environmental Control to report accidents or incidents pursuant to the department’s regulations. However, anything reported pursuant to the department’s regulations must not be considered a waiver of any privilege or confidentiality provided in subsection (A).
(F) An affected person may file a civil action to assert a claim of confidentiality before a court of competent jurisdiction and file a motion to request the court to issue an order to enjoin a hospital from releasing data, documents, records, or information to the department, the South Carolina Board of Medical Examiners, the National Practitioner Data Bank, and the joint commission or other accrediting bodies that are not required by law or regulation to be released by a hospital. The data, documents, records, or information in controversy must be filed under seal with the court having jurisdiction over the pending action and are subject to judicial review. If the court finds that a party acted unreasonably in unsuccessfully asserting the claim of confidentiality under this subsection, the court shall assess attorney’s fees against that party.
(G) For purposes of this section, an “affected person” means a person, other than a patient, who is a subject of a proceeding enumerated in subsection (A)(1).
§ 44-7-394. Assertion and defense of confidentiality claims.
(A) If a hospital or affected person asserts a claim of confidentiality over documents pursuant to Section 44-7-392, and the party seeking the documents objects, then upon motion to the court having jurisdiction over the pending action the court shall review the documents under seal to determine if any of the documents are subject to discovery. The court may order production of the documents to the requesting party. If the court finds that a hospital or affected person acted unreasonably in unsuccessfully asserting the claim of confidentiality, the court may assess attorney’s fees against that party for any fees incurred by the requesting party in obtaining the documents.
(B) For purposes of this section an “affected person” means a person, other than a patient, who is a subject of a proceeding enumerated in Section 44-7-392(A)(1).
(C) If the court orders a hospital or affected person to produce documents to a third party under this section, the hospital or affected person shall have the right to immediately appeal that order, and the filing of the appeal shall stay the enforcement of the order compelling the production.
§ 38-33-300. Liability for participation in quality of care or utilization review [Health Maintenance Organization].
There may be no monetary liability on the part of, and no cause of action may arise against, any person who participates in quality of care or utilization reviews by a peer review committee [of a health maintenance organization] established in accordance with regulations of the department under Section 38-33-40(A)(2) for any act performed during such reviews, provided such person acts in good faith and without malice, has made a reasonable effort to obtain the facts of the matter, and reasonably believes that the action taken is warranted by the facts.