Summary

The peer review report should be designed to make it easier for hospital boards, administrators and medical staff officers to fulfill their legal obligation to provide quality care to patients and to preserve hospital and medical staff immunity from money damages. The peer review report should, standing alone, serve as:

• a mechanism to improve the quality of patient care
• the foundation for the subsequent professional review actions
• the protection of the hospital and medical staff from money damages under HCQIA
• a defense against an action by the physician

An appropriate evaluation of a peer review report requires hospital decision-makers to evaluate a number of factors that influence the effectiveness of the report. This evaluation is essential to determine if the report provides the information, clinical references and findings of an expert peer reviewer to serve as a strong evidentiary basis for the hospital’s action or inaction.

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