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Texas Occupations Code - Section 160.007. Confidentiality Relating To Medical Peer Review Committee

Legal Research Home > Texas Lawyer > Occupations Code > Texas Occupations Code - Section 160.007. Confidentiality Relating To Medical Peer Review Committee

§ 160.007. CONFIDENTIALITY RELATING TO MEDICAL PEER 
REVIEW COMMITTEE.  (a) Except as otherwise provided by this 
subtitle, each proceeding or record of a medical peer review 
committee is confidential, and any communication made to a medical 
peer review committee is privileged.
	(b)  If a judge makes a preliminary finding that a proceeding 
or record of a medical peer review committee or a communication made 
to the committee is relevant to an anticompetitive action, or to a 
civil rights proceeding brought under 42 U.S.C. Section 1983, the 
proceeding, record, or communication is not confidential to the 
extent it is considered relevant.
	(c)  A record or proceeding of a medical peer review 
committee or a written or oral communication made to the committee 
may be disclosed to:
		(1)  another medical peer review committee;                                   
		(2)  an appropriate state or federal agency;                                  
		(3)  a national accreditation body;                                           
		(4)  the board;  or                                                           
		(5)  the state board of registration or licensing of 
physicians of another state.
	(d)  If a medical peer review committee takes action that 
could result in censure, suspension, restriction, limitation, 
revocation, or denial of membership or privileges in a health care 
entity, the affected physician shall be provided a written copy of 
the recommendation of the medical peer review committee and a copy 
of the final decision, including a statement of the basis for the 
decision.  Disclosure to the affected physician of confidential 
peer review committee information relevant to the matter under 
review does not constitute waiver of the confidentiality 
requirements established under this subtitle.
	(e)  Unless disclosure is required or authorized by law, a 
record or determination of or a communication to a medical peer 
review committee is not subject to subpoena or discovery and is not 
admissible as evidence in any civil judicial or administrative 
proceeding without waiver of the privilege of confidentiality 
executed in writing by the committee.  The evidentiary privileges 
created by this subtitle may be invoked by a person or organization 
in a civil judicial or administrative proceeding unless the person 
or organization secures a waiver of the privilege executed in 
writing by the chair, vice chair, or secretary of the affected 
medical peer review committee.
	(f)  If, under Sections 160.008(a) and (b), a person 
participating in peer review, a medical peer review committee, or a 
health care entity named as a defendant in a civil action filed as a 
result of participation in peer review may use otherwise 
confidential information in the defendant's own defense, a 
plaintiff in the proceeding may disclose a record or determination 
of or a communication to a medical peer review committee in rebuttal 
to information supplied by the defendant.
	(g)  A person seeking access to privileged information must 
plead and prove waiver of the privilege.  A member, employee, or 
agent of a medical peer review committee who provides access to an 
otherwise privileged communication or record in cooperation with a 
law enforcement authority in a criminal investigation is not 
considered to have waived any privilege established under this 
subtitle.

Acts 1999, 76th Leg., ch. 388, § 1, eff. Sept. 1, 1999.                    

Last modified: August 10, 2007