NY Pub Health L § 2805-M (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBH - Public Health Article 28 - Hospitals 2805-M - Confidentiality.

§ 2805-m. Confidentiality. 1. The information required to be collected and  maintained  pursuant  to  sections  twenty-eight hundred five-j and twenty-eight hundred five-k of this  article,  reports  required  to  be submitted  pursuant  to  section  twenty-eight  hundred  five-l  of this article and any incident reporting requirements imposed upon  diagnostic and  treatment  centers pursuant to the provisions of this chapter shall be kept confidential and shall not be released except to the  department or  pursuant  to subdivision four of section twenty-eight hundred five-k of this article.   2. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, none of  the  records, documentation  or  committee  actions  or  records  required pursuant to sections twenty-eight hundred five-j and twenty-eight hundred five-k  of this  article,  the  reports  required  pursuant to section twenty-eight hundred five-l of this article nor any incident  reporting  requirements imposed upon diagnostic and treatment centers pursuant to the provisions of  this chapter shall be subject to disclosure under article six of the public officers law or 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  of  any  such committee  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.   3. 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, or  hospital  as  required  by  sections  twenty-eight  hundred  five-j, twenty-eight  hundred  five-k  and  twenty-eight  hundred five-l of this article or any incident reporting requirements imposed  upon  diagnostic and  treatment  centers  pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. The foregoing  shall  not  apply  to  information  which   is   untrue   and communicated with malicious intent.   4. (a) Hospital sepsis data submitted to the department, shall for the initial  phase  of  data  collection  be considered a "pilot phase", the purpose of which is to ensure the completeness and accuracy of reporting by hospitals.  (b) For data reported during the  pilot  phase,  hospital  identifiers shall be encrypted by the department in any and all public databases and reports.  The  department shall provide each hospital with an encryption key for that hospital only to permit access to its own performance  data for  internal  quality  improvement  purposes.  Hospital specific public reporting of sepsis data including, but not  limited  to  risk  adjusted sepsis  mortality  rates, may require up to, but no more than, two years of "pilot phase" collection depending on the  validity  and  reliability outcomes of the data collected.  (c)  As  described  in the regulations pertaining to the submission of data  on  sepsis  to  the  department,  consultation  with   appropriate national,  hospital  and  expert stakeholders will assist in determining the appropriate public release of hospital performance.  (d) The department shall issue regular reports as needed to  hospitals assessing  the accuracy of the data submitted during the pilot phase and provide guidance for improving the accuracy of data reporting.  (e) After the pilot phase is completed, all data submitted under  this section  and  compiled in the database established herein and all public reports derived therefrom shall include hospital identifiers.  (f) Clinical performance data, including but not limited to individual hospital  mortality  rates  adjusted  for  potential differences in risk factors and comparisons with state (or national, if available) averages, shall be developed and posted on the department's web site.