Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

NEW!

Subscribe to receive notifications of new Co-Sponsorship Memos circulated

By Member | By Date | Keyword Search

Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2015 - 2016 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted:	June 3, 2016 03:12 PM
From:	Senator Andrew E. Dinniman
To:	All Senate members
Subject:	Amending the Peer Review Protection Act to Include Emergency Medical Service Providers

I will soon introduce legislation to amend the Peer Review Protection Act as it applies to emergency medical services. Since the Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Act was passed in 2009, there have been a series of court decisions that clarify when the protection of the Pennsylvania Peer Review Protection Act applies. A recent decision states that unless an entity is a professional health care provider, it does not conduct peer review and any review conducted by such and organization is not confidential under the Act. As the EMS Act is written, and the courts have held, an entity that provides health care is entitled to the protection of the Pennsylvania Peer Review Protection Act. It has come to my attention however that most small EMS agencies do not have the resources to conduct quality assurance and peer review on their own and rely on Pennsylvania Emergency Health Services Council or Regional EMS Councils. Thus, my legislation will expand and clarify the definition of "professional health care provider" to include those organizations and make sure that emergency services providers are entitled to protections in Peer Review Act. I hope you will join me in co-sponsoring this legislation.

---