(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, the results of a survey, an inspection, or an investigation of a health care provider that is conducted by any state or federal department or agency, including any statement of deficiencies and all findings and deficiencies cited in the statement of deficiencies on the basis of the survey, inspection, or investigation, all proposed or implemented plans of correction submitted by the health care provider, and statements of or records of interviews with employees or independent contractors of the health care provider, shall not be:

Terms Used In Tennessee Code 29-26-103

  • Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Health care liability action: means any civil action, including claims against the state or a political subdivision thereof, alleging that a health care provider or providers have caused an injury related to the provision of, or failure to provide, health care services to a person, regardless of the theory of liability on which the action is based. See Tennessee Code 29-26-101
  • Health care provider: means :
    (A) A health care practitioner licensed, authorized, certified, registered, or regulated under any chapter of title 63 or title 68, including, but not limited to, medical resident physicians, interns, and fellows participating in a training program of one of the accredited medical schools or of one of such medical school's affiliated teaching hospitals in Tennessee. See Tennessee Code 29-26-101
  • Hearsay: Statements by a witness who did not see or hear the incident in question but heard about it from someone else. Hearsay is usually not admissible as evidence in court.
  • State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Tennessee Code 1-3-105
(1) Admissible in evidence in any health care liability action in any court or arbitration proceeding on the basis that it satisfies an exception to the Tennessee rules of evidence governing hearsay; or
(2) Used in an advertisement, unless the advertisement includes all of the following:

(A) The date the survey, inspection, or investigation was conducted;
(B) If a finding or deficiency cited in the statement of deficiencies has been corrected, a statement that the finding or deficiency has been corrected and the date the finding or deficiency was corrected; and
(C) A statement that the advertisement is neither authorized nor endorsed by the department of health, department of mental health and substance abuse services, or any other government agency.
(b) Nothing in this section prohibits the results of a survey, an inspection, or investigation being used in an administrative proceeding, a state civil or criminal proceeding, or a federal civil or criminal proceeding initiated by a state or federal department or agency, or an appeal of any such proceeding.
(c) Nothing in this section prohibits the results of a survey, an inspection, or investigation being used to impeach a witness in a health care liability action.
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