Introduction

Introduction

This chapter focuses on 42 USCA s 11101, et seq., the codification of the Health Care Quality Improvement Act of 1986, which provides immunity for physicians who conduct good-faith peer review. It also creates a national database on physician peer review matters. If peer review activities comply with the act, physicians and others conducting these reviews cannot be sued under state or federal civil laws, including the antitrust and RICO statutes. This protection may be more illusionary than real, however. The courts have never allowed aggrieved physicians to recover for good-faith peer review activities--only for those that violated a law. Such violations, by definition, are not good faith.

The more important provision of the act may be the National Practitioner Data Bank. This is meant to be a clearinghouse for information on peer review actions, payments in medical malpractice cases, and other information bearing on the competence of physicians. The intent of the data bank is to facilitate peer review and to prevent physicians from escaping disciplinary actions by moving to a different state. This information is available to malpractice plaintiffs in only very limited circumstances.

Law and the Physician Homepage
Copyright 1993 - NOT UPDATED
The Climate Change and Public Health Law Site
The Best on the WWW Since 1995!
Copyright as to non-public domain materials
See DR-KATE.COM for home hurricane and disaster preparation
See WWW.EPR-ART.COM for photography of southern Louisiana and Hurricane Katrina
Professor Edward P. Richards, III, JD, MPH - Webmaster

Provide Website Feedback - https://www.lsu.edu/feedback
Privacy Statement - https://www.lsu.edu/privacy
Accessibility Statement - https://www.lsu.edu/accessibility

Home

Climate Change Project

Table of Contents

Courses

Search

Introduction