The Medical Care Availability and Reduction of Error (MCARE) Act, 40 Pa. C.S. Section 1303.101, et. seq., contains provisions which create an institutional “patient safety” process, and provides protections—contained in Section 1303.311— that afford to health care institutions the ability to report and investigate “serious events or incidents,” and develop and implement solutions to systemic patient safety problems that may lead to future “serious events or incidents” discovered thereby, free from concern about exposure during litigation discovery.

The MCARE Act proscribes the requirements for the creation and implementation of a hospital’s “Patient Safety Plan” (Section 1303.307); the creation and making of “Patient Safety Reports” by hospital personnel (Section 1303.308); the duties and rights of a hospital’s “Patient’s Safety Officer” (Section 1303.309); and the formation and conduct of a hospital’s “Patient Safety Committee” (Section 1303.310). It is within the context of these processes and personnel that the protections set forth in Section 1303.311 apply.