(1) (a) A hospital that is accredited by the American College of Cardiology Accreditation Services or its successor organization or any nationally recognized accrediting body as a STEMI receiving center shall report to the heart attack database data that is consistent with nationally recognized guidelines on individuals with confirmed heart attacks within the state. Within thirty days after receiving a quarterly report of a hospital's heart attack data from the heart attack database, a hospital accredited as a STEMI receiving center shall submit the report to the department.
(b) Hospitals that are recognized as STEMI referral centers pursuant to section 25-3-116 and PCI centers that are not accredited as heart attack receiving centers are encouraged to report data to the heart attack database and provide quarterly database reports to the department.
(a) Reports obtained by the department pursuant to this section are:
Privileged and strictly confidential;
Not subject to civil subpoena, not discoverable, and not admissible in a civil, criminal, or administrative proceeding against a health care facility or health care professional; and
Not directly available to the public.
(b) With regard to reports obtained pursuant to this section, the department shall protect the confidentiality of patient records in accordance with state and federal laws and shall not disclose publicly any identifying or proprietary information of any hospital, hospital administrator, health care professional, or employee.
The department shall sign a letter of commitment with any nationally recognizedbody whose reports are provided to the department pursuant to subsection (1)(a) of this section to ensure compliance with the confidentiality requirements and, as part of the letter of commitment, request reporting measures and metrics at the national level for benchmarking purposes.
Source: L. 2017: Entire section added, (HB 17-1246), ch. 214, p. 835, § 3, effective May 18.