October 2016

  The testimony of the nursing home’s representative reveals that the nursing home had a process for quality assurance, but no committee. Without having an actual committee the nursing home cannot invoke the peer review privilege.  COURT OF APPEALS OF OHIO September 13, 2016

  The family of a nursing home resident sued the facility alleging that negligence led to the development of a pressure ulcer which became infected and caused the resident’s death.  The issue at this early stage in the litigation is whether the nursing home must turn over to the family’s lawyers four separate quality assurance reports believed to contain information supporting the family’s case.  

  The Court of Appeals of Ohio ruled against the nursing home.

  The peer review privilege exempts documents from discovery in civil cases only if the documents were prepared for use by a utilization review committee, quality assessment committee, performance improvement committee, credentialing committee or other committee that conducts review as to quality of care or professional competence.

  The nursing home used the documents in its quality assurance process.   However, according to the Court, documents used for quality review are not confidential peer review documents unless they are used by an actual committee with designated members constituted by the facility’s bylaws or other policies and procedures which actually meets as a committee to conduct quality review. Fravel v. Nursing Home, 2016 WL 4769062 (Ohio App., September 13, 2016).