[PUBLISH]

In the United States Court of Appeals For the Eleventh Circuit

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No. 23-12571 ____________________

In re: BAYCARE MEDICAL GROUP, INC., ST. JOSEPH’S HOSPITAL, INC., Petitioners.

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On Petition for Writ of Mandamus to the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida D.C. Docket No. 8:21-cv-01891-WFJ-TGW ____________________

Before BRANCH, BRASHER, and ABUDU, Circuit Judges. USCA11 Case: 23-12571 Document: 32 Date Filed: 05/14/2024 Page: 2 of 17

2 Opinion of the Court 23-12571

BRASHER, Circuit Judge: This petition for a writ of mandamus raises an issue of first impression under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005, 42 U.S.C. § 299b-22(a). Dr. Tara Loux filed an employment discrimination suit against her former employers BayCare Medical Group and St. Joseph’s Hospital, which we will refer to collectively as “BayCare.” The district court ordered BayCare to produce its quality files and referral logs to Loux in discovery. BayCare argues that those documents are “patient safety work product” that are “privileged and . . . [not] subject to discovery in connection with a Federal . . . civil . . . proceeding” under the Act. Id. § 299b-22(a)(2). We agree that BayCare is entitled to mandamus. The district court required BayCare to establish, as part of its privilege claim, that the disputed documents were created or maintained for the “sole purpose” of making reports to a patient safety organization. We see no support for that requirement in the text of the statute. Because the district court applied the wrong legal standard to assess BayCare’s privilege claim, and because BayCare has no adequate legal remedy, we GRANT the petition and direct the district court to VACATE its orders compelling the disclosure of the privileged documents and RECONSIDER BayCare’s assertion of privilege consistent with this opinion. I.

Dr. Loux sued her former employer BayCare for terminat- ing her after she committed surgical errors. She sought to discover BayCare’s internal documents about the performance of other USCA11 Case: 23-12571 Document: 32 Date Filed: 05/14/2024 Page: 3 of 17

23-12571 Opinion of the Court 3

doctors who were not fired despite also committing errors. In re- sponse, BayCare argued that some of these files were privileged under the Patient Safety and Quality Improvement Act of 2005. Specifically, BayCare objected to disclosing documents, such as its “quality files” and “referral logs,” that are stored in the secure elec- tronic database rlDatix. The Act creates a statutory privilege for work product pre- pared for or reported to patient safety organizations. See 42 U.S.C. § 299b-22(a)(2). Patient safety organizations analyze patient safety trends and propose new methods to providers to mitigate medical risks in the care process. The Act tasks the Secretary of the Depart- ment of Health & Human Services with certifying and listing enti- ties as patient safety organizations. See id. § 299b-24. Congress cre- ated the privilege “to encourage the reporting and analysis of