I will soon introduce legislation to clarify and update certain aspects of Pennsylvania’s Peer Review Protection Act (P.L. 564, No. 193) to reflect modern health care practices and strengthen protections for patients and health care participants across the Commonwealth. The Act has long shielded health care providers from personal and professional risk when participating in the process, thereby fostering frank and candid assessments that ultimately serve to safeguard the quality of patient care across the Commonwealth.
 
Peer review plays a critical role in ensuring patient safety and quality of care. It enables health care professionals to evaluate one another’s clinical decisions, identify concerns, and improve outcomes. For this process to function effectively, providers must be able to engage in candid discussions without fear that their participation will expose them to liability. These protections ultimately support safer, higher-quality care for patients.
 
This proposed legislation will address uncertainty in the peer review process by clarifying definitions, modernizing statutory language, and aligning the law with the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s decision in Leadbitter v. Keystone. 
 
By reinforcing these protections, we can preserve and strengthen a system that promotes transparency among providers and leads to better, safer care for patients.
 
As the American Medical Association emphasizes, peer review is a longstanding and essential mechanism for promoting professionalism, maintaining trust, and ensuring accountability within the medical profession. We must work together to create statutory protections that enable the peer review system to function more effectively for all patients, now and in the future.
 
Please join me in cosponsoring this important legislation.