The term “medical quality assurance program” means any activity carried out before, on, or after March 23, 2010, by or for any Indian health program or urban Indian organization to assess the quality of medical care, including activities conducted by or on behalf of individuals, Indian health program or urban Indian organization medical or dental treatment review committees, or other review bodies responsible for quality assurance, credentials, infection control, patient safety, patient care assessment (including treatment procedures, blood, drugs, and therapeutics), medical records, health resources management review, and identification and prevention of medical or dental incidents and risks.
Medical quality assurance records created by or for any Indian health program or a health program of an urban Indian organization as part of a medical quality assurance program are confidential and privileged. Such records may not be disclosed to any person or entity, except as provided in subsection (d).
No part of any medical quality assurance record described in subsection (b) may be subject to discovery or admitted into evidence in any judicial or administrative proceeding, except as provided in subsection (d).
An individual who reviews or creates medical quality assurance records for any Indian health program or urban Indian organization who participates in any proceeding that reviews or creates such records may not be permitted or required to testify in any judicial or administrative proceeding with respect to such records or with respect to any finding, recommendation, evaluation, opinion, or action taken by such person or body in connection with such records except as provided in this section.
With the exception of the subject of a quality assurance action, the identity of any person receiving health care services from any Indian health program or urban Indian organization or the identity of any other person associated with such program or organization for purposes of a medical quality assurance program that is disclosed in a medical quality assurance record described in subsection (b) shall be deleted from that record or document before any disclosure of such record is made outside such program or organization.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as authorizing or requiring the withholding from any person or entity aggregate statistical information regarding the results of any Indian health program or urban Indian organization’s medical quality assurance programs.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as authority to withhold any medical quality assurance record from a committee of either House of Congress, any joint committee of Congress, or the Government Accountability Office if such record pertains to any matter within their respective jurisdictions.
An individual or entity having possession of or access to a record or testimony described by this section may not disclose the contents of such record or testimony in any manner or for any purpose except as provided in this section.
Medical quality assurance records described in subsection (b) may not be made available to any person under section 552 of title 5.
An individual who participates in or provides information to a person or body that reviews or creates medical quality assurance records described in subsection (b) shall not be civilly liable for such participation or for providing such information if the participation or provision of information was in good faith based on prevailing professional standards at the time the medical quality assurance program activity took place.
Nothing in this section shall be construed as limiting access to the information in a record created and maintained outside a medical quality assurance program, including a patient’s medical records, on the grounds that the information was presented during meetings of a review body that are part of a medical quality assurance program.
The Secretary, acting through the Service, shall promulgate regulations pursuant to section 1672 of this title.
Disclosure under subsection (d) does not permit redisclosure except to the extent such further disclosure is authorized under subsection (d) or is otherwise authorized to be disclosed under this section.
To the extent that the protections under part C of title IX of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 229b–21 et seq.) [42 U.S.C. 299b–21 et seq.] (as amended by the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005 (Public Law 109–41; 119 Stat. 424)) and this section are inconsistent, the provisions of whichever is more protective shall control.
This section shall continue in force and effect, except as otherwise specifically provided in any Federal law enacted after March 23, 2010.