Credentialing and Peer Review

Subscribe to Credentialing and Peer Review via RSS

In Cole vs. St. James Healthcare, the Montana Supreme Court affirmed the entry of a preliminary injunction against St. James Healthcare. The facts, briefly stated, were that the hospital had undertaken an investigation in a manner that was not authorized by the medical staff bylaws and changed Dr. Cole’s Medical Staff status without following the …

A Colorado state appeals court concluded breach of due process provisions of the Health Care Quality Immunity Act (HCQIA) precluded immunity for St. Mary’s Hospital and MedicalCenter, even though the medical staff bylaws might not have required notice and a fair hearing for revocation of provisional clinical privileges.

The hospital’s medical staff bylaws …

The United States District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma has required Ardent Health Services to produce unredacted documents relating to the files of identified peer review physicians who practiced at the hospitals in order to examine whether the plaintiff’s peer review situation was handled differently than other physicians within the hospital. 

The Court …

Dr. Poliner has petitioned the United States Supreme Court to review the Fifth Circuit decision dismissing his claims against Texas Health Systems based upon immunity under the Health Care Quality Improvement Act. Dr. Poliner is arguing that the Fifth Circuit in particular and courts in general have gone too far in granting immunity under the "objective…

Cases denying hospitals’ summary judgment motions based upon the Health Care Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) immunity are rare. Stratienko v. Chattanooga-HamiltonCountyHospital Authority (full text opinion below) is one of the exceptions in which the physician not only defeated the motion for summary judgment, but also obtained an injunction against the summary suspension. 

The …

In Nasim v. Los Robles Regional Medical Center (2008 Cal. App. LEXIS 1251), a California Appellate State Court held that adoption of credentialing criteria which would retroactively deny a physician certain clinical privileges was illegal under California law. 

Los Robles Regional Medical Center adopted standards requiring board certification, and those standards required that subspecialty board …

Physicians initiating peer review litigation should be careful of two issues involving attorney’s fees. First, Section 42 USC 11113 of the Health Care Quality Improvement Act provides that hospitals may recover attorney’s fees from physicians who file frivolous or bad faith claims.

Second, sometimes the application for medical staff privileges contains clauses providing the immunity…

The Fifth Circuit reversed the dictrict court holding in the Poliner case, and concluding that the hospital had conducted an appropriate investigation and was therefore entltled to HCQIA immunity.

As with most of these cases, the law is fairly clear and the facts are the issue. In Poliner, the physician was asked or coerced into accepting…

Med Law Blog Editor

About Our Practice Group

Tucker Arensberg’s Healthcare Practice Group includes some of the most experienced health law attorneys in the region. We handle the legal problems so our clients can handle the important work of caring for patients. We work with physicians, physical therapists, dentists, optometrists, and all other professional care givers to help them avoid the many legal traps of running a practice. Tucker Arensberg lawyers have experience in all major health law issues.