2 (1) In this Act, “critical incident” means any unintended event that occurs when a patient receives health care from a health facility that, (a)  results in death, or serious disability, injury or harm to the patient, and (b)  does not result primarily from the patient’s underlying medical condition or from a known risk inherent in providing the health care; (“incident critique”) “disclose” means, with respect to quality of care information, to provide or make the information available to a person who is not a member of the quality of care committee with which the information is associated, and “disclosure” has a corresponding meaning; (“divulguer”, “divulgation”) “health care” means any observation, examination, assessment, care, service or procedure that is done for a health-related purpose and that, (a)  is carried out or provided to diagnose, treat or maintain an individual’s physical or mental condition, (b)  is carried out or provided to prevent disease or injury or to promote health, or (c)  is carried out or provided as part of palliative care, and includes, (d)  the compounding, dispensing or selling of a drug, a device, equipment or any other item to an individual, or for the use of an individual, pursuant to a prescription, and (e)  a prescribed type of service; (“soins de santé”) “health facility” means, (a)  a hospital within the meaning of the Public Hospitals Act, (b)  a private hospital within the meaning of the Private Hospitals Act, (c)  a psychiatric facility within the meaning of the Mental Health Act, (d)  an integrated community health services centre within the meaning of the Integrated Community Health Services Centres Act, 2023, or (e)  a prescribed entity that provides health care; (“établissement de santé”) “information” includes personal health information as defined in the Personal Health Information Protection Act, 2004; (“renseignements”) “Minister” means the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care; (“ministre”) “patient” means a recipient of health care; (“patient”) “patient record” means a record that is maintained for the purpose of providing health care to a patient; (“dossier du patient”) “prescribed” means prescribed by the regulations; (“prescrit”) “proceeding” includes a proceeding that is within the jurisdiction of the Legislature and that is held in, before or under the rules of a court, a tribunal, a commission, a justice of the peace, a coroner, a committee of a College within the meaning of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, a committee of the Board of Regents continued under the Drugless Practitioners Act, a committee of the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers under the Social Work and Social Service Work Act, 1998, an arbitrator or a mediator, but does not include any activities carried on by a quality of care committee; (“instance”) Note: On a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor, the definition of “proceeding” in subsection 2 (1) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted: (See: 2021, c. 27, Sched. 2, s. 69) “proceeding” includes a proceeding that is within the jurisdiction of the Legislature and that is held in, before or under the rules of a court, a tribunal, a commission, a justice of the peace, a coroner, a committee of a College within the meaning of the Regulated Health Professions Act, 1991, a committee of the Board of Regents continued under the Drugless Practitioners Act, a committee of the Ontario College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers under the Social Work and Social Service Work Act, 1998, a committee of the Authority within the meaning of the Health and Supportive Care Providers Oversight Authority Act, 2021, an arbitrator or a mediator, but does not include any activities carried on by a quality of care committee; (“instance”) “quality of care committee” means a body of one or more individuals that performs quality of care functions and, (a)  that is established, appointed or approved, (i)  by a health facility, (ii)  by a quality oversight entity, or (iii)  by any combination of health facilities or quality oversight entities, and (b)  that meets the prescribed criteria, if any; (“comité de la qualité des soins”) “quality of care functions”, in respect of a quality of care committee, means activities carried on for the purpose of studying, assessing or evaluating the provision of health care with a view to improving or maintaining the quality of the health care and include conducting reviews of critical incidents; (“fonctions liées à la qualité des soins”) “quality oversight entity” means a prescribed entity that carries on activities for the purpose of improving or maintaining the quality of care provided by a health facility, a health care provider or a class of health facility or health care provider; (“entité de surveillance de la qualité”) “regulations” mean the regulations made under this Act; (“règlements”) “use”, with respect to quality of care information, does not include to disclose the information and “use”, as a noun, does not include disclosure of the information; (“utiliser”, “utilisation”) “witness” means a person, whether or not a party to a proceeding, who, in the course of the proceeding, (a)  is examined or cross-examined for discovery, either orally or in writing, (b)  makes an affidavit, or (c)  is competent or compellable to be examined or cross-examined or to produce a document, whether under oath or not. (“témoin”) 2016, c. 6, Sched. 2, s. 2 (1); 2023, c. 4, Sched. 1, s. 81. Quality of care information (2) Subject to subsection (3), in this Act, “quality of care information” means information that, (a)  is collected or prepared by or for a quality of care committee for the sole or primary purpose of assisting the committee in carrying out its quality of care functions, (b)  relates to the discussions and deliberations of a quality of care committee in carrying out its quality of care functions, or (c)  relates solely or primarily to any activity that a quality of care committee carries on as part of its quality of care functions, including information contained in records that a quality of care committee creates or maintains related to its quality of care functions. 2016, c. 6, Sched. 2, s. 2 (2). What is not included (3) “Quality of care information” does not include any of the following: 1.  Information contained in a patient record. 2.  Information contained in a record that is required by law to be created or to be maintained. 3.  Information relating to a patient in respect of a critical incident that describes, i.  facts of what occurred with respect to the incident, ii.  what the quality of care committee or health facility has identified, if anything, as the cause or causes of the incident, iii.  the consequences of the critical incident for the patient, as they become known, iv.  the actions taken and recommended to be taken to address the consequences of the critical incident for the patient, including any health care or treatment that is advisable, or v.  the systemic steps, if any, that a health facility is taking or has taken in order to avoid or reduce the risk of further similar incidents. 4.  Information that consists of facts contained in a record of an incident involving the provision of health care to a patient. 5.  Information that a regulation specifies is not quality of care information and that a quality of care committee collects or prepares after the day on which that regulation comes into force. 2016, c. 6, Sched. 2, s. 2 (3). Section Amendments with date in force (d/m/y) 2017, c. 25, Sched. 9, s. 114 (1, 2) - no effect - see 2023, c. 4, Sched. 1, s. 67 - 18/05/2023 2021, c. 27, Sched. 2, s. 69 - not in force 2023, c. 4, Sched. 1, s. 81 - 25/09/2023