N.Y. Public Health Law § 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.