§ 3006. Quality improvement program. 1. By January first, nineteen hundred ninety-seven, every ambulance service and advanced life support first response service shall establish or participate in a quality improvement program, which shall be an ongoing system to monitor and evaluate the quality and appropriateness of the medical care provided by the ambulance service or advanced life support first response service, and which shall pursue opportunities to improve patient care and to resolve identified problems. The quality improvement program may be conducted independently or in collaboration with other services, with the appropriate regional council, with an EMS program agency, with a hospital, or with another appropriate organization approved by the department. Such program shall include a committee of at least five members, at least three of whom do not participate in the provision of care by the service. At least one member shall be a physician, and the others shall be nurses, or emergency medical technicians, or advanced emergency medical technicians, or other appropriately qualified allied health personnel. The quality improvement committee shall have the following responsibilities:

(a) to review the care rendered by the service, as documented in prehospital care reports and other materials. The committee shall have the authority to use such information to review and to recommend to the governing body changes in administrative policies and procedures, as may be necessary, and shall notify the governing body of significant deficiencies;

(b) to periodically review the credentials and performance of all persons providing emergency medical care on behalf of the service;

(c) to periodically review information concerning compliance with standard of care procedures and protocols, grievances filed with the service by patients or their families, and the occurrence of incidents injurious or potentially injurious to patients. A quality improvement program shall also include participation in the department's prehospital care reporting system and the provision of continuing education programs to address areas in which compliance with procedures and protocols is most deficient and to inform personnel of changes in procedures and protocols. Continuing education programs may be provided by the service itself or by other organizations; and

(d) to present data to the regional medical advisory committee and to participate in system-wide evaluation.

2. The information required to be collected and maintained, including information from the prehospital care reporting system which identifies an individual, shall be kept confidential and shall not be released except to the department or pursuant to section three thousand four-a of this article.

3. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, none of the records, documentation, or committee actions or records required pursuant to this § of the public officers law or Article 31 of the civil practice law and rules, except as hereinafter provided or as provided in any other provision of law. No person in attendance at a meeting of any such committee shall be required to testify as to what transpired thereat. The prohibition related to disclosure of testimony shall not apply to the statements made by any person in attendance at such a meeting who is a party to an action or proceeding the subject of which was reviewed at the meeting. The prohibition of disclosure of information from the prehospital care reporting system shall not apply to information which does not identify a particular ambulance service or individual.

4. Any person who in good faith and without malice provides information to further the purpose of this section or who, in good faith and without malice, participates on the quality improvement committee shall not be subject to any action for civil damages or other relief as a result of such activity.