title: Health care quality information liability & privilege.
abstract: As the General Counsel for the National Committee for Quality Assurance, which accredits health plans and measures outcome performance, Ms. Donohue is in a unique position to comment on the use of such data in litigation against health plans and providers. After reviewing the growing tide of class-action lawsuits in this area, she argues that such information should be protected under the common law privilege of self-critical analysis, extended to third parties, because such privilege would protect and encourage quality assessment. Ms. Donohue further argues that the sharing and reporting of this information on a system-wide level will allow plans and providers to make visible headway in improving the care provided to patients, and that this benefit to all consumers clearly justifies the creation of a federal privilege to combat the abundance of state-level lawsuits against plans and providers that attempt to base liability on third-party accreditation and outcome performance data.
authors.affiliation: National Committee for Quality Assurance, Washington, DC, USA.
authors.forename: Sharon King
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Donohue
mesh_terms: D022126:Access to Information / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D000068:Accreditation / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration*; D030881:Disclosure / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D016365:Liability, Legal; D008318:Malpractice / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D008329:Managed Care Programs / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000592:standards*; D018024:Peer Review, Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence / Q000458:organization & administration*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care; D017751:Safety Management; D014481:United States