Peer Review
It is widely recognized that South Carolina has one of the weakest peer review statutes in the nation. In fact, our statute prevents hospitals from participating fully in quality and patient safety initiatives with accrediting bodies. The purpose of a sound peer review statute is to promote a critical review of a specific incident to determine how to improve hospital procedures and processes to reduce the likelihood that the same type of incident will occur again. Hospital staff must participate in a thorough and candid review of incidents to achieve the highest quality of care possible. If such reports are potentially subject to public disclosure, then hospital staff will likely not participate in the process with the candor necessary to make the improvement processes meaningful. SCHA is proposing statutory amendments to clarify the Legislature's intent, which was to encourage full and candid review of patient care and to promote safety and quality of care provided within hospitals.
