WILLIAM DONALD SCHAEFER, Governor                   Ch. 653

(b)  For purposes of this section, a medical review
committee is:

(1)  A regulatory board or agency established by State
or federal law to license, certify, or discipline any provider of
health care;

(2)  A committee of the Faculty or any of its
component societies or a committee of any other professional
society or association composed of providers of health care;

(3)  A committee appointed by or established in a
local health department for review purposes;

(4)  A committee of the medical staff or other
committee, INCLUDING ANY RISK MANAGEMENT, CREDENTIALING, OR
UTILIZATION REVIEW COMMITTEE ESTABLISHED IN ACCORDANCE WITH §
19-314 OF THE HEALTH - GENERAL ARTICLE, of a hospital, [or]
related institution, OR ALTERNATIVE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM, if the
governing board of the hospital, [or] related institution, OR
ALTERNATIVE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM forms and approves the committee
or approves the written bylaws under which the committee
operates;

(5)  Any person, including a professional standard
review organization, who contracts with an agency of this State
or of the federal government to perform any of the functions
listed in subsection (c) of this section; or

(6)  Any person who contracts with a provider of
health care to perform any of those functions listed in
subsection (c) of this section that are limited to the review of
services provided by the provider of health care.

(c)  For purposes of this section, a medical review
committee:

(1)  Evaluates and seeks to improve the quality of
health care provided by providers of health care;

(2)  Evaluates the need for and the level of
performance of health care provided by providers of health care;

(3)  Evaluates the qualifications, competence, and
performance of providers of health care; or

(4)  Evaluates and acts on matters that relate to the
discipline of any provider of health care.

(d)  (I) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the
proceedings, records, and files of a medical review committee are
not discoverable and are not admissible in evidence in any civil

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