Pennsylvania Superior Court rules that credentialing files are not privileged.
In considering Dr. Petraglia’s application to its medical staff, St. Clair Hospital’s credentialing committee reviewed numerous documents, including: (1) professional opinions relating to the doctor’s competence; (2) professional peer review reference and competency evaluations; (3) an ongoing professional practice evaluation of St. Clair Hospital Summary Report; and (4) responses to St. Clair inquiries to the National Practitioner Data Bank. The credentialing committee recommended that Dr. Petraglia be granted privileges.
The lawsuit at issue was later filed regarding Dr. Petraglia’s performance of spinal surgery, which resulted in the patient having a stroke. The plaintiff requested production of the doctor’s complete credentialing file. The defendant hospital objected to the production of the portions mentioned above based upon the Peer Review Protection Act (PRPA). The trial court ultimately granted the plaintiff’s motion to compel these records.
The Superior Court upheld this decision on appeal. The court held that the evaluations reviewed by the credentialing committee constituted “peer review documents.” However, the credentialing committee did not qualify as a “review committee” as required by the PRPA. Since the credentialing committee was engaging in a professional evaluation of Dr. Petraglia’s qualifications, it only qualified as a “review organization,” which is not afforded peer review privileges. The court followed this distinction between “committee” and “organization” from Reginelli v. Boggs, 181 A.3d 293 (Pa. 2018).
Case Law Alerts, 2nd Quarter, April 2020 is prepared by Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin to provide information on recent developments of interest to our readers. This publication is not intended to provide legal advice for a specific situation or to create an attorney-client relationship. Copyright © 2020 Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin, all rights reserved. This article may not be reprinted without the express written permission of our firm.