Chapter 178

2017 -- S 0407 SUBSTITUTE B AS AMENDED Enacted 07/13/2017

A N   A C T

RELATING TO HEALTH AND SAFETY - THE RHODE ISLAND PATIENT SAFETY ACT OF 2008

Introduced By: Senators McCaffrey, Lombardi, Nesselbush, and Archambault

Date Introduced: March 02, 2017

It is enacted by the General Assembly as follows:

SECTION 1. Section 23-17.21-4 of the General Laws in Chapter 23-17.21 entitled "The

Rhode Island Patient Safety Act of 2008" is hereby amended to read as follows:

23-17.21-4. Definitions.

For the purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings:

(a) "Department" means the Rhode Island department of health.

(b) "Director" means the director of the Rhode Island department of health.

(c) "Health care facility" means any corporation, limited liability company, facility, or

institution licensed by this state to provide health care or professional services, or an officer,

employee, or agent thereof acting in the course and scope of his or her employment.

(d) "Near misses" means circumstances in which a patient safety event is narrowly

averted.

(e) "Patient safety activities" means: (1) eEfforts to improve patient safety and the quality

of health care delivery; (2) tThe collection and analysis of patient safety work product; (3) tThe

development and dissemination of information with respect to improving patient safety, such as

recommendations, protocols, or information regarding best practices; (4) tThe utilization of

patient safety work product for the purposes of encouraging a culture of safety and of providing

feedback and assistance to effectively minimize patient risk; (5) tThe maintenance of procedures

to preserve confidentiality with respect to patient safety work product; and (6) tThe provision of

appropriate security measures with respect to patient safety work product.

(f) "Patient safety event" means those events as defined by the nNational qQuality

fForum, iInstitute of mMedicine, cCenter for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), and as

further defined by the quality of care advisory committee, as established herein, and shall include

near misses.

(g) "Patient safety organization (PSO)" means any public or private organization certified

by the director, or component of any such organization, whose activity is to improve patient

safety and the quality of health care delivery for patients receiving care through the collection,

aggregation, analysis, investigation, and/or processing of medical or health care related

information submitted to it by reporting entities. A PSO shall not mean any agency or public

body as defined in subsection 38-2-2(i)(1).

(h) "Patient safety work product" means all reports, records, memoranda, analyses,

statements, root cause analyses, or and written or oral statements, that: (1) a A health care facility

or provider prepares for the purpose of disclosing a patient safety event, or and is are disclosed,

to a patient safety organization; (2) is Are received from a reporting entity, or and is are created

or and analyzed by a patient safety organization; or (3) dDirectly or indirectly contains

deliberations, analytical process, recommendations, conclusions, or other communications of a

patient safety organization or and between a patient safety organization and health care providers

or facilities.

(i) "Identifiable patient safety work product" means patient safety work product that: (1)

iIs presented in a form and manner that allows the identification of any provider or reporting

entity that is a subject of the work product, or any providers or reporting entities that participate

in activities that are a subject of the work product; (2) cConstitutes individually identifiable

health information as that term is defined in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability

Act of 1996 and its implementing regulations (45 C.F.R. Parts 160-164); or (3) iIs presented in a

form and manner that allows the identification of an individual.

(j) "Nonidentifiable patient safety work product" means patient safety work product that

is not identifiable patient safety work product as defined in subsection (h) herein.

(k) "Reporting entities" means all hospitals, nursing facilities, and freestanding

ambulatory surgical centers licensed under chapter 23-17 17 of title 23.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.

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LC001309/SUB B

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