Comm’r of Pub. Health v. Freedom of Info. Comm’n (Summary)

DATA BANK REPORT AND FOIA

Comm’r of Pub. Health v. Freedom of Info. Comm’n, SC 19046 (Conn. Mar. 25, 2014)

The Supreme Court of Connecticut held that any records received by a public agency from either the National Practitioner Data Bank (“NPDB”) or the Healthcare Integrity and Protection Data Bank (“HIPDB”) may not be disclosed by that public agency under the Freedom of Information Act.

A couple filed a lawsuit against an obstetrician/gynecologist from whom the couple had obtained an intrauterine insemination procedure.  The couple alleged that the physician inseminated the woman with his own sperm rather than that of her husband.  The couple settled the lawsuit and the records were sealed.

The Department of Public Health received notice from the NPDB that a medical malpractice action had been settled against the physician.  The Department and the physician entered into a consent order, which was a public document, under which the physician did not contest the Department’s allegation that he had inseminated a patient with his own sperm, but did not admit wrongdoing or guilt.  A newspaper learned of the allegations, and sent a letter to the Department requesting all records under the state Freedom of Information Act (“State FOIA”).  The Department complied with the request in part, but failed to produce certain documents in the report, namely the NPDB and HIPDB reports, and the newspaper filed a complaint with the Freedom of Information Commission (“FIC”).  At the hearing before the FIC, the Department argued that the report contained information from both the NPDB and the HIPDB and that there was federal law to support withholding those documents.  The FIC ruled that federal regulations allowed for the withholding of HIPDB records, but that the NPDB records were not barred from disclosure.  Both the Department and the newspaper appealed the decision of the FIC.  The appeals court affirmed the decision of the FIC, and the Department and newspaper appealed to the Supreme Court of Connecticut.

The court sought to determine if records received from federal databanks by a state agency were subject to the disclosure required under the State FOIA.  The court observed that under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, all HIPDB records were to be transferred to the NPDB.  The court concluded that the federal statutory and regulatory schemes in effect when the newspaper made its request “strongly suggest that records received from both the [NPDB] and the [HIPDB] would not be subject to disclosure under the [State FOIA]” and reversed the decision of the FIC.