317-A:20-a Dentist Report of Adverse Events; Corrective Action Plan. –
I. Any dentist licensed pursuant to this chapter shall report to the board the occurrence of any adverse health care events resulting in death, brain damage, or hospitalization, occurring in the dentist's office or facility while utilizing general anesthesia, deep sedation, or moderate sedation, as soon as is reasonably and practically possible, but no later than 15 working days after discovery of the event. The report shall be filed in a format specified by the board and shall identify the office or facility but shall not include any identifying information for any of the dental professionals, facility employees, or patients involved. The board may consult with experts and organizations familiar with patient safety when developing the format for reporting and in further defining events in order to be consistent with industry standards.
II. After receiving a report of an adverse health care event, the board shall conduct a root cause analysis of the event. Following the analysis, the dentist's office or facility shall implement a corrective action plan to implement the findings of the analysis or report to the board any reasons for not taking corrective action. If the root cause analysis and the implementation of a corrective action plan are complete at the time an event must be reported, the findings of the analysis and the corrective action plan shall be included in the report of the event. The findings of the root cause analysis and a copy of the corrective action plan shall otherwise be filed with the board within 60 days of the event. All proceedings related to the root cause analysis and implementation of a corrective action plan shall be considered privileged and not subject to discovery or subpoena.
III. All information and data made available to the board and its designees under this section shall be confidential and shall be exempt from public access under RSA 91-A.
IV. The board shall adopt rules for reporting of adverse events, analysis of root causes, and implementation of corrective action plans required to facilitate the enforcement of this section.