Chapter 112 Section 5 of the Massachusetts General Laws as appearing in the 2008 Official edition is hereby amended by the insertion after the word "years." in line 78 of the following:
Provided, however, that payments made as part of a disclosure, apology and early offer program, shall not be construed to be reportable against a physician identified during the root cause analysis conducted as part of a disclosure, apology and early offer program, absent a determination of substandard or unreasonable care rendered on the part of said physician. For purposes of this section a disclosure, apology and early offer program shall be a program that seeksto expedite resolution of incidents of medical injury by disclose to patients and families when unanticipated adverse outcomes of care occur; investigate and explain what happened; implement systems to avoid recurrence of incidents and improve patient safety; and where appropriate, apologize and offer financial compensation without the patient having to file a lawsuit.
Chapter 112, Section 5C of the Massachusetts General Laws as appearing in the 2008 Official edition is hereby amended by insertion after the word "insured" in line 10 the following:
(d) Provided, however, that payments made as part of a disclosure, apology and early offer program, shall not be construed to be reportable against a physician identified during the root cause analysis conducted as part of a disclosure, apology and early offer program, absent a determination of substandard or unreasonable care rendered on the part of said physician. For purposes of this section a disclosure, apology and early offer program shall be a program that seeksto expedite resolution of incidents of medical injury by disclose to patients and families when unanticipated adverse outcomes of care occur; investigate and explain what happened; implement systems to avoid recurrence of incidents and improve patient safety; and where appropriate, apologize and offer financial compensation without the patient having to file a lawsuit.
