The following are excerpts from the text of the act and explanatory materials. The act is divided into the following sections: Protection from Liability, Adequate Notice and Hearing, Reporting Malpractice Payments, Duty of Hospitals to Obtain Information, Definitions and Reports, and Attorney’s Fees.

The need for this law was based on the following congressional findings:

1. The increasing occurrence of medical malpractice and the need to improve the quality of medical care have become nationwide problems that warrant greater efforts than those that can be undertaken by any individual State.

2. There is a national need to restrict the ability of incompetent physicians to move from State to State without disclosure or discovery of the physician’s previous damaging or incompetent performance.

3. This nationwide problem can be remedied through effective professional peer review.

4. The threat of private money damage liability under Federal laws, including treble damage liability under Federal antitrust law, unreasonably discourages physicians from participating in effective professional peer review.

5. There is an overriding national need to provide incentive and protection for physicians engaging in effective professional peer review. (sec. 11101)