Text: HF02541 Text: HF02543 Text: HF02500 - HF02599 Text: HF Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
PAG LIN
1 1 Section 1. NEW SECTION. 135M.1 DEFINITIONS.
1 2 As used in this chapter, the following definitions shall
1 3 apply:
1 4 1. "Health care provider" means a nursing facility, a
1 5 residential care facility as defined in section 135C.1,
1 6 subsection 17, or an assisted living program certified by the
1 7 department of elder affairs or recognized as voluntarily
1 8 accredited pursuant to chapter 231C.
1 9 2. "Quality assessment and assurance activities" means the
1 10 procedure by which a quality assessment and assurance
1 11 committee monitors, evaluates, recommends, and implements
1 12 actions to improve and assure the delivery and quality of
1 13 services and resident safety through identification and
1 14 prevention of medical or dental incidents or risks.
1 15 3. "Quality assessment and assurance committee" means a
1 16 committee of a health care provider consisting of individuals
1 17 responsible for the identification of issues which may
1 18 adversely impact the quality of care and services provided to
1 19 residents, and for the development and implementation of plans
1 20 of action to correct identified quality issues.
1 21 4. "Quality assessment and assurance committee records"
1 22 means staff-generated committee investigation files, internal
1 23 reviews, reports, minutes, memoranda, charts, and statistics
1 24 generated during the activities of a quality assessment and
1 25 assurance committee. "Quality assessment and assurance
1 26 committee records" does not mean medical or clinical records
1 27 kept regarding any resident in the course of the business of
1 28 operating as a health care provider.
1 29 5. "Regulatory compliance materials" means information
1 30 regarding surveys and certifications made regarding a health
1 31 care provider, including, but not limited to, federal and
1 32 state survey reports, citation reports, statements of
1 33 deficiencies, plans of correction, sanctions, remedies,
1 34 penalties, fines, or similar findings of noncompliance with
1 35 statutory or regulatory requirements or standards.
2 1 Sec. 2. NEW SECTION. 135M.2 CONFIDENTIALITY OF QUALITY
2 2 ASSESSMENT AND ASSURANCE COMMITTEE RECORDS.
2 3 1. Quality assessment and assurance committee records
2 4 shall be confidential and privileged and shall be protected
2 5 from direct or indirect means of discovery, subpoena, or
2 6 admission into evidence in any civil judicial contract or tort
2 7 cause of action. However, information, documents, or records
2 8 otherwise available from original sources are not immune from
2 9 discovery or use in any such civil judicial contract or tort
2 10 cause of action based upon presentation to a quality
2 11 assessment and assurance committee. This subsection shall not
2 12 preclude the discovery of the identification of witnesses or
2 13 documents known to a quality assessment and assurance
2 14 committee.
2 15 2. A person who reviews or creates quality assessment and
2 16 assurance committee records or who participates in any
2 17 proceeding that reviews or creates such records shall not be
2 18 permitted, compelled, or required to testify in any civil
2 19 judicial contract or tort cause of action with respect to such
2 20 records or with respect to any finding, recommendation,
2 21 evaluation, opinion, or action taken by such person or body in
2 22 connection with such records. A health care provider may
2 23 waive privileges under this subsection and release information
2 24 or present quality assessment and assurance committee records
2 25 by discovery, subpoena, or admission into evidence in any
2 26 civil judicial contract or tort cause of action.
2 27 3. Persons affected by subsection 2 who provide false
2 28 information with the knowledge that such information is false
2 29 shall not avail themselves of the protections afforded in
2 30 subsection 2.
2 31 4. A party seeking discovery of witnesses or documents
2 32 deemed confidential and privileged under subsection 1 may seek
2 33 a judicial in camera inspection of such witnesses or
2 34 documents. The judicial in camera inspection shall be
2 35 conducted by a district judge in the district court in which
3 1 the action is filed, and the court shall determine whether the
3 2 evidence sought to be excluded is relevant and material to the
3 3 claim of the party seeking the evidence and whether the
3 4 confidential and privileged evidence is discoverable by any
3 5 other means. If the court rules in favor of the party seeking
3 6 discovery of the confidential and privileged evidence, the
3 7 court shall issue an order requiring the party claiming the
3 8 confidential and privileged evidence under subsection 1 to
3 9 produce the evidence.
3 10 Sec. 3. NEW SECTION. 135M.3 ADMISSIBILITY OF REGULATORY
3 11 COMPLIANCE MATERIALS.
3 12 1. Regulatory compliance materials issued by any agency to
3 13 a health care provider shall not be admitted into evidence in
3 14 any judicial civil contract or tort cause of action unless all
3 15 of the following requirements are met:
3 16 a. No further appeals are pending with respect to the
3 17 issuance of the regulatory compliance materials.
3 18 b. The regulatory compliance materials are otherwise
3 19 admissible under the rules of evidence.
3 20 c. The regulatory compliance materials are directly
3 21 related to the harm allegedly caused to a resident who is the
3 22 plaintiff in any civil judicial contract or tort cause of
3 23 action.
3 24 2. Regulatory compliance materials shall not be admitted
3 25 into evidence in any civil judicial contract or tort cause of
3 26 action for purposes of establishing a standard of care or
3 27 negligence as a matter of law.
3 28 EXPLANATION
3 29 This bill relates to the delivery of services by certain
3 30 health care providers and to the quality assessment and
3 31 assurance committee records of such providers.
3 32 The bill creates new Code chapter 135M and provides a
3 33 definition of "health care provider" to mean a nursing
3 34 facility, residential care facility, or an assisted living
3 35 program certified by the department of elder affairs. The
4 1 bill also provides a definition of a "quality assessment and
4 2 assurance committee" to mean a committee of a health care
4 3 provider consisting of individuals responsible for the
4 4 identification of issues which may adversely impact the
4 5 quality of care and services provided to residents, and for
4 6 the development and implementation of plans of action to
4 7 correct identified quality issues. The bill further defines
4 8 the records of a quality assessment and assurance committee to
4 9 mean staff-generated committee investigation files, internal
4 10 reviews, reports, minutes, memoranda, charts, and statistics
4 11 generated during the activities of a quality assessment and
4 12 assurance committee, but excludes medical or clinical records
4 13 kept regarding a resident of a health care provider.
4 14 The bill provides that quality assessment and assurance
4 15 committee records shall be confidential and privileged and
4 16 protected from discovery, subpoena, or admission into evidence
4 17 in any civil judicial contract or tort cause of action, except
4 18 for information, documents, or records otherwise available
4 19 from original sources. The bill further provides that a
4 20 person who reviews or creates quality assessment and assurance
4 21 committee records shall not be permitted, compelled, or
4 22 required to testify in any civil judicial contract or tort
4 23 cause of action concerning any finding, recommendation,
4 24 evaluation, opinion, or action taken in connection with such
4 25 records. The bill provides this confidential privilege may be
4 26 waived by a health care provider, and that a party seeking
4 27 discovery of witnesses or documents deemed confidential and
4 28 privileged may request an in camera inspection of such
4 29 witnesses or documents.
4 30 The bill further provides that regulatory compliance
4 31 materials issued by an agency to a health care provider shall
4 32 only be admitted into evidence in any judicial civil contract
4 33 or tort cause of action if certain requirements are met.
4 34 "Regulatory compliance materials" means information regarding
4 35 surveys and certifications made regarding a health care
5 1 provider including, but not limited to, federal and state
5 2 survey reports, citation reports, statements of deficiencies,
5 3 plans of correction, sanctions, remedies, penalties, fines, or
5 4 similar findings of noncompliance.
5 5 LSB 7032HV 79
5 6 rh/cf/24
Text: HF02541 Text: HF02543 Text: HF02500 - HF02599 Text: HF Index Bills and Amendments: General Index Bill History: General Index
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