Question of the Week

October 24, 2024

QUESTION:
After attending HortySpringer’s Peer Review Clinic in Amelia Island earlier this year, we decided to ramp up a multi-specialty peer review committee to provide oversight over what has traditionally been a department-based process at our hospital.  We are struggling with what kind of information that new committee should share with our MEC.  Any tips or suggestions?

OUR ANSWER FROM HORTYSPRINGER ATTORNEY IAN DONALDSON:
First off, thanks for attending the PRC! We are glad to hear our recommendations were helpful!

As it relates to your question, we recommend that your MEC not be given detailed, practitioner-specific information about individual cases that the multi-specialty peer review committee is reviewing.  There are several reasons for this recommendation:

  • If a peer review matter cannot be successfully resolved by the peer review committee, the matter may end up on the MEC’s agenda. If the MEC has been receiving detailed, practitioner-specific reports throughout the review process leading up to that referral, the physician under review may allege that the MEC has already “pre-judged” the matter and were biased by all the sound bites it received from the peer review committee.
  • The MEC is the only Medical Staff body that can recommend or take disciplinary action with respect to a physician, so to promote positive engagement with the peer review process, we like to keep the MEC out of day-to-day “routine” peer review matters. We have found this can help change the perception of peer review from one that has traditionally been viewed as punitive to one that is educational and constructive.
  • Providing practitioner-specific details to the 20 or 30 people who are in the room at your MEC meetings can undermine the principle that the peer review process is confidential.

All of the above has led us to believe that the MEC can satisfy its legal responsibilities to oversee the peer review process by reviewing aggregate, anonymized reports regarding the activities of the peer review committee, without having to give practitioner-specific details.

If you have a quick question about this, e-mail Ian Donaldson at idonaldson@hortyspringer.com.