Montana § 37-2-409 - Quality Assurance Guidelines -- Reviews -- Contracts

§ 37-2-409. Quality Assurance Guidelines -- Reviews -- Contracts

Quality assurance guidelines -- reviews -- contracts. (1) Reviews of medical practitioners conducted by a quality assurance committee under this part must comply with the following guidelines: (a) A random review is a review of at least 10 randomly selected patient charts, which must be reviewed by a quality assurance committee. The quality assurance committee may gather data from any source for purposes of the review. The quality assurance committee shall submit an evaluation report to the medical practice group outlining the review findings and recommending changes if changes are determined necessary. (b) A focused review is a review intended for specific clinical and quality improvement purposes, such as: (i) reviewing patient medical records relating to a certain disease or procedural category for purposes of comparing documented treatment to available and current standards of medical care; (ii) assessing the efficacy and efficiency of an office procedure or process related to clinical care; or (iii) reviewing office and clinical practices prompted by an analysis and results of incident reports. (c) An incident review is for purposes of gathering data, investigating, conducting analysis, coordinating all responses, and recommending and initiating corrective action, as necessary, connected with a specific incident involving the delivery of medical care to a patient of the medical practice group. (2) (a) A review of a medical practitioner conducted by a quality assurance committee under this part must be based on appropriateness, medical necessity, adequacy of documentation, and efficiency of services. (b) The medical practitioner being reviewed must be immediately advised of the findings of the quality assurance committee in order to further the educational process for the physician. (c) As a result of a review of a medical practitioner conducted under this part, the medical practice group is responsible for documenting: (i) any corrective action that is taken; (ii) any policies, procedures, or clinical processes that are changed; (iii) the person responsible for implementing the changes; and (iv) how the medical practice group will ensure that the changes are made. (3) A medical practice group may contract with a group or organization composed of medical practitioners or with a nonprofit corporation engaged in performing the functions of a quality assurance committee for purposes of conducting any review allowed under this part.