Chapter 12 - § 12.7 • MEDICAL QUALITY ASSURANCE PRIVILEGE

• Jurisdiction: Colorado

§ 12.7 • MEDICAL QUALITY ASSURANCE PRIVILEGE

The quality assurance statute, codified at C.R.S. § 25-3-109, requires Colorado hospitals and other licensed health-care committees to follow certain quality management processes. Furthermore, the statute states:

[A]ny records, reports, or other information . . . that are part of a quality management program designed to . . . improve the quality of patient care shall be confidential information . . . . [Such information] shall not be subject to subpoena or discoverable or admissible as evidence in any civil or administrative proceeding.

C.R.S. § 25-3-109(3) and (4).

The purpose of the quality management privilege is "designed to encourage frank and open discussion about quality management" by allowing quality management teams to speak "openly and honestly about the quality of services delivered in order for those services to be improved." Simpson v. Cedar Springs Hosp., Inc., 2014 CO 73, ¶¶ 5, 24. The statute defines a "quality management program" as one that is "approved by" the Colorado...