AR HB1723

Adds Arkansas Code section 20-13-216 requiring the Department of Health to develop a data collection and evaluation process for reviewing nonhospital emergency medical care and time-critical diagnoses and procedures conducted by licensed emergency medical services personnel.

Authorizes the State Board of Health to promulgate rules for implementing the process, designed to study both individual and collective care and treatment given to patients.

Permits the department to collect data and information regarding patients treated and transported from the field and admitted to hospitals through emergency departments, trauma centers, or special care units, while maintaining confidentiality of patient records.

Makes all collected data, records, reports, and documents held confidential within hospitals, service providers, and the department, with records not available to the public and exempt from disclosure if they identify or could identify any patient, provider, institution, or health plan.

Declares quality assessment and improvement data inadmissible in legal proceedings and exempt from discovery and disclosure to the same extent as medical quality review committee records under Arkansas Code section 16-46-105(a)(1), with healthcare provider internal use of such information not waiving these protections.