Peer Review: Can the Board of Medical Practice Subpoena Files?
Co-authored with Margo S. Struthers, Kari L. Wraspir, and Rebecca Egge Moos Your institution receives a subpoena from the Board of Medical Practice. The subpoena seeks peer review records and credentialing files pertaining to Dr. X. Do you have to turn over the records? If the peer review privilege applies, the Minnesota Court of Appeals recently held that you do not. For years, a tension has existed between the Board of Medical Practice and health care institutions. When the Complaint Review Committee of the Minnesota Board of Medical Practice commences an investigation of a physician, it often sends subpoenas to the health care institutions within which the physician practices. The subpoenas commonly seek documents contained in credentialing and peer review files. Many health care institutions have resisted the subpoenas under a Minnesota statute that makes information confidential if it is acquired by a peer review committee. Other institutions have complied with the subpoenas, and
