Colorado Supreme Court Protects Quality Management Privilege for CDPHE-Licensed Providers

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck
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Colorado hospitals and other licensed and certified health care facilities scored a significant victory on October 14, when the Colorado Supreme Court issued its en banc ruling in Simpson v. Cedar Springs Hospital, Inc. (2014 CO 73; Supreme Court Case No. 13SA124), and held that Cedar Springs Hospital, Inc., was not required to produce the minutes from two quality management committee meetings conducted at the hospital. The Supreme Court determined that the trial court had erred in ordering Cedar Springs Hospital to produce materials related to quality management in a medical malpractice suit brought by a former patient of the hospital.

At the trial court proceedings, Cedar Springs Hospital refused to produce these materials, asserting that they were protected by the quality management privilege set forth in section 25-3-109 of the Colorado Revised Statutes. This privilege covers “records, reports, or other information of a licensed or certified health care facility that are part of a quality management program.” The statute defines “quality management program” as a “program which includes quality assurance and risk management activities, the peer review of licensed health care professional not otherwise provided for [in another statutory provision], and other quality management functions which are described by a facility in a quality management program approved by [CDPHE].” (Emphasis added.) Cedar Springs Hospital argued that because it had maintained a Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (“CDPHE”) license at all relevant times, its quality management program was necessarily approved by CDPHE.

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