Medical Peer Review Protection Act in Illinois
- The Illinois Medical Studies Act establishes that certain documents used in medical peer-review activity are privileged and therefore protected from being used in a civil lawsuit. This protection keeps the fear of legal action from affecting the review process.
- The legislation limits peer-review documents that remain privileged to those produced for use in certain types of qualified committees. These committees improve quality in a medical facility. Verbal information generated through the committee remains privileged, too.
- Some information related to the peer-review process might not be privileged. For instance, a document generated in the peer-review process but then distributed widely outside of the peer-review committee would not be privileged, according to the Passen Law Group, a Chicago-area law firm.