NY Pub Health L § 3006 (2021)
2021 New York Laws PBH - Public Health Article 30 - Emergency Medical Services 3006 - Quality Improvement Program.

§  3006.  Quality improvement program.   1. By January first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven, every ambulance service and advanced life  support first  response  service  shall  establish  or  participate in a quality improvement program, which shall be an ongoing  system  to  monitor  and evaluate the quality and appropriateness of the medical care provided by the  ambulance  service or advanced life support first response service, and which shall pursue opportunities to  improve  patient  care  and  to resolve  identified  problems.  The  quality  improvement program may be conducted independently or in collaboration with  other  services,  with the  appropriate  regional  council,  with an EMS program agency, with a hospital, or with  another  appropriate  organization  approved  by  the department.  Such  program  shall  include  a committee of at least five members, at least three of whom do not participate in the  provision  of care  by  the service. At least one member shall be a physician, and the others shall be nurses, or emergency medical  technicians,  or  advanced emergency  medical  technicians, or other appropriately qualified allied health personnel. The  quality  improvement  committee  shall  have  the following responsibilities:  (a)  to  review  the  care  rendered  by the service, as documented in prehospital care reports and other materials. The committee  shall  have the  authority to use such information to review and to recommend to the governing body changes in administrative policies and procedures, as may be necessary,  and  shall  notify  the  governing  body  of  significant deficiencies;  (b)  to  periodically  review  the  credentials and performance of all persons providing emergency medical care on behalf of the service;  (c) to periodically  review  information  concerning  compliance  with standard  of  care  procedures  and protocols, grievances filed with the service by patients or their families, and the occurrence  of  incidents injurious  or  potentially  injurious to patients. A quality improvement program shall also include participation in the department's prehospital care reporting system and the provision of continuing education programs to address areas in which compliance with procedures  and  protocols  is most  deficient  and  to  inform  personnel of changes in procedures and protocols.  Continuing education programs may be provided by the service itself or by other organizations; and  (d) to present data to the regional medical advisory committee and  to participate in system-wide evaluation.   2.  The information required to be collected and maintained, including information from the prehospital care reporting system which  identifies an  individual,  shall  be  kept  confidential and shall not be released except to the department or pursuant to section three thousand four-a of this article.   3. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, none of  the  records, documentation, or committee actions or records required pursuant to this section  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 in 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 related  to  disclosure  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 of which was reviewed at the meeting. The prohibition of disclosure of information from the  prehospital  care reporting  system shall not apply to information which does not identify a particular ambulance service or individual.   4.  Any  person  who  in  good  faith  and  without  malice   provides information to further the purpose of this section or who, in good faith  and  without  malice,  participates on the quality improvement committee shall not be subject to any action for civil damages or other relief  as a result of such activity.