Montana § 37-2-203 - Health Care Provider Professional Wellness Program -- Reporting -- Nonliability -- Evidentiary Privilege -- Definitions

§ 37-2-203. Health Care Provider Professional Wellness Program -- Reporting -- Nonliability -- Evidentiary Privilege -- Definitions

Health care provider professional wellness program -- reporting -- nonliability -- evidentiary privilege -- definitions. (1) A person may not be obligated to report information regarding a health care provider to the provider's respective licensing board solely because the health care provider is a participant in a professional program. (2) A professional program and its agents are immune from civil liability for any act, decision, omission, or utterance done or made in performance of the professional program. An active participant in a professional program may not be employed or engaged by the professional program or have a financial ownership interest in the professional program. (3) (a) The proceedings, minutes, records, reports, analyses, findings, conclusions, recommendations, and deliberative process, including oral or written opinions and reports, of a professional program originating in or provided to the professional program are not subject to discovery or introduction into evidence in any civil action unless a court of competent jurisdiction, after a hearing in camera, determines that the evidence is not otherwise available and that extraordinary circumstances exist such that the need for the evidence substantially outweighs the interest in protecting the evidence from disclosure and orders the disclosure of information. The information is not admissible in a licensing action unless the office of administrative hearings determines, after an in camera review, that the factors of public safety and health outweigh the individual right of privacy of the licensee subject to the licensing action. (b) A person involved in the work of a professional program may not be questioned as a witness in a civil action regarding the person's knowledge of any factual information regarding specific patient health care or treatment by virtue of the person's involvement in the professional program. (c) Exchange of information between professional programs does not constitute a waiver of any privilege provided in this subsection (3). (4) As used in this section, the following definitions apply: (a) "Board" means the board of medical examiners established in 2-15-1731 , the board of dentistry established in 2-15-1732 , the board of pharmacy established in 2-15-1733 , the board of nursing established in 2-15-1734 , and the board of behavioral health established in 2-15-1744 . (b) "Health care provider" means: (i) a physician, physician assistant, dentist, mental health professional as defined in 37-39-102 , pharmacist, or nurse licensed under Title 37; or (ii) a student enrolled in a school of medicine, osteopathic medicine, physician assistant medicine, nursing, dentistry, or pharmacy or in a behavioral health or mental health educational program. (c) "Professional program" means a program created to address issues related to career fatigue and wellness in health care providers and that: (i) is established or contracted for by a statewide association that primarily represents health care providers; and (ii) is exempt from federal income taxes pursuant to section 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6) of the Internal Revenue Code.