Medical Review Committees

Florida Senate
-
2026

SB 64

By
Senator Harrell

31-00320-26 202664__
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to medical review committees; amending
3 s. 766.101, F.S.; revising the definition of the term
4 “medical review committee”; revising provisions
5 related to discovery and evidence in civil and
6 administrative actions to conform to changes made by
7 the act; providing an effective date.
8
9 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
10
11 Section 1. Paragraph (a) of subsection (1) and subsection
12 (5) of section 766.101, Florida Statutes, are amended to read:
13 766.101 Medical review committee, immunity from liability.—
14 (1) As used in this section:
15 (a) The term “medical review committee” or “committee”
16 means:
17 1.a. A committee of a hospital or ambulatory surgical
18 center licensed under chapter 395 or a health maintenance
19 organization certificated under part I of chapter 641;
20 b. A committee of a physician-hospital organization, a
21 provider-sponsored organization, or an integrated delivery
22 system;
23 c. A committee of a state or local professional society of
24 health care providers;
25 d. A committee of a medical staff of a licensed hospital or
26 nursing home, provided the medical staff operates pursuant to
27 written bylaws
that have been
approved by the governing board of
28 the hospital or nursing home;
29 e. A committee of the Department of Corrections or the
30 Correctional Medical Authority as created under s. 945.602, or
31 employees, agents, or consultants of either the department or
32 the authority or both;
33 f. A committee of a professional service corporation formed
34 under chapter 621 or a corporation organized under part I of
35 chapter 607 or chapter 617, which is formed and operated for the
36 practice of medicine as defined in s. 458.305(3), and which has
37 at least 25 health care providers who routinely provide health
38 care services directly to patients;
39 g. A committee of the Department of Children and Families
40
or a managing entity as defined in s. 394.9082(2)
,
which
may

41
include

includes
employees
or
,
agents
of
,
or consultants to the
42 department
or managing entity and any other persons the

43
department or managing entity deems

as deemed
necessary to
44 provide peer review, utilization review,
or

and
mortality review
45 of treatment services provided pursuant to chapters 394, 397,
46 and 916;
47 h. A committee of a mental health treatment facility
48 licensed under chapter 394 or a community mental health center
49 as defined in s. 394.907, provided the quality assurance program
50 operates pursuant to the guidelines
that have been
approved by
51 the governing board of the agency;
52 i. A committee of a substance abuse treatment and education
53 prevention program licensed under chapter 397 provided the
54 quality assurance program operates pursuant to the guidelines
55
that have been
approved by the governing board of the agency;
56 j. A peer review or utilization review committee organized
57 under chapter 440;
58 k. A committee of the Department of Health, a county health
59 department, healthy start coalition, or certified rural health
60 network, when reviewing quality of care, or employees of these
61 entities when reviewing mortality records; or
62 l. A continuous quality improvement committee of a pharmacy
63 licensed pursuant to chapter 465,
64
65 which committee is formed to evaluate and improve the quality of
66 health care rendered by providers of health service, to
67 determine
whether

that
health services rendered were
68 professionally indicated or were performed in compliance with
69 the applicable standard of care, or
whether

that
the cost of
70 health care rendered was considered reasonable by the providers
71 of professional health services in the area; or
72 2. A committee of an insurer, self-insurer, or joint
73 underwriting association of medical malpractice insurance, or
74 other persons conducting review under s. 766.106.
75 (5) The investigations, proceedings, and records of a
76 committee as described in the preceding subsections
are

shall

77 not
be
subject to discovery or introduction into evidence in any
78 civil or administrative action against a provider of
79 professional health services
or a managing entity
arising out of
80 the matters which are the subject of evaluation and review by
81 such committee, and
any

no
person who was in attendance at a
82 meeting of such committee
is not

shall be
permitted or required
83 to testify in any such civil action as to any evidence or other
84 matters produced or presented during the proceedings of such
85 committee or as to any findings, recommendations, evaluations,
86 opinions, or other actions of such committee or any members
87 thereof. However, information, documents, or records otherwise
88 available from original sources are not to be construed as
89 immune from discovery or use in any such civil action merely
90 because they were presented during proceedings of such
91 committee, nor should any person who testifies before such
92 committee or who is a member of such committee be prevented from
93 testifying as to matters within his or her knowledge, but the
94
said
witness cannot be asked about his or her testimony before
95 such a committee or opinions formed by him or her as a result of
96
such

said
committee hearings.
97 Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2026.