Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1970 )

Hon. E. M. Lawrence Opinion No, M- 713
Executive Secretary
Texaa Board of Llcensure for '.Re: Whether the Board of
Nursing Home Admlnlnlatrators Licensure for Nursing
6225 U.S. Highway 290 East Rome Admlnistrattirsarid
Austin, Texas the State Department of
Health may share infor-
Hon. J. E. Peavy matlon received by such
Commissionerof Health a enclee under Articles
Texas State Department of Health 4&42c and 4442d, Vernon'::
1100 W. 49th Street Civil Statutes.
Austin, Tixas
Gentlemen:
You have requested the opinion of thle office regarding
the above matter. In this connection you have provided ua with the
following Information:
"The Texas Board of Licensure for Nursing
Home Administratorswas created to admlnleter the
licensing of nursing home administratorspursuant
to Article 4442d, Tex. Rev. Clv. Stat. Ann. (1969),
and one of the functions of the Texas State Depart-
ment of Health is to admlnlater the llcenein of
'institutiona, which Is defined In Article &442~
(2), Tex. Rev. Clv. Stat. Ann. (1969) to lncluie
nursing homes. In the course of carrying out Its
functions, each agency gather0 informationwhich
would be of great use to the other; however, at
the present time each agency Is reluctant to share
ite.records because of the possibility that the
confidential nature of such records prohibits
access thereto by any entity other than the agency
which gathered the information.
"Accordlfigiy,the Texas Board of Llcenaure
for Nursing Home Administrators,speaking unanimously,
requests the Attorney General'e Opinion on the follow-
ing question:
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._.... L;. i4.Lwrwce, Hon.,J.~E. Peavy, page 2 (M-713)
"Does the Board have the authority to dl-
vulge to the Texas S&ate Department of Health
the informationand records whloh it gathers In
the course of performing its functions and duties
under Tex. Rev. Civ. stat. Ann., Art. 44&d (1969)?
"Similarly,the Texas State Department of
Public Health requests the Attorney General's
oplnlon on the following question:
"Does the Texas State Department of Health
have the authority to divulge to the Texas Board
of Llcensure for Nursing Home Administratorsthe
Informationand records It gathers In the course.
of performing its functionsand duties under Tex.
Rev. Clv. Stat. Ann., Art. 444% (1969)?
"Although there are two questions submitted
because of the possibilityof different answers,
neither agency has an objection to a consolidated
response to both questions In the event such an
opinion can be rendered.
"The activities of the Health Department and
the Board overlap to such an extent that the sharing
'of Informationwould greatly reduce the workload lm-
posed upon each agency and, thereforz,~would result
In a savings to the'taxpayer. , . .
At the outset we would point out that'Article 4442d,
Vernon's Civil Statutes, which controls the operations of the
Board of Llcensure for Nursing Home Administrators,contains no
specific statement regarding a llmltatlon on the public nature of
its fl.lesand records. Accordingly,It Is our conclusion that such
records would be reasonably available to the public and that no
ptc,blemexists aa to making such records available to,the State
Department of Health.
Widthregard to the matter of whether the State Department
of Health may make Its records available for use by the Board of
ti::ensurefor Nursing Home Admlnlstrators,,weare faced with the
provisions of Section 13, Article 4442c, Vernon's Civil Statutes,
which reads as follows:
bet. 13. Informationreceived by the
Licensing Agency /State Department of Health7
through filed rep?%ts, Inspection, or as otherwise
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. .
1: ::,i . & a NJ.Lawence, Hon. J. B. Peavy, page 3 (id-?ij)
authorized under this law shall not be disclosed
cazly. except a8 authortied elsewhere in this
n such manner as to Identify individuals or
institutionsas defined herein except In a pgo-
ceedlng involvln the westion of llcensurk.
(Emphasisadded.7
The phrase 'shall not be disclosed publicly" has not previously
been the subject of any opinion by this offiae, nor have we been
able to discover a reported case wherein this particular phrase
has been examined. Since the Legislaturedid not specially define
the phrarrewe must Interpret the words In the sense In which they
are ordinarilyused. Calvert v. Fisher, 259 S.W.2d 944 (Tex.Clv.
App. 1953, error ref.). When viewed from this aspect, we admit to
route uncertaintyas to just what types of‘disclosuresmight be for-
bidden by the phrase In question. The tendency Is to restrict such
statutes to only the relatlonshlpsparticularlynamed by strict
construction. 97 C.J.S. 741, Witnesses, Sso. 254. However, It
seems clear that an Interagencyshartng of the data, in carrying
out a related admlnlstratlveaim, could not be considered as a
public dlsalosure of the Information. Attorney General Opinions
Nos. O-2319 (1940) and.&388 (1969). Communicationsbetween
government officers are privileged and are not deemed public. 47
C.J.S. 747, Witnesses, Sec. 26k.
In connectionwith the foregoing, we would note that any
such records from the State Health Department which come Into the
pos'sesslon~ofthe Board of Llcensure for Nursing Home Administrators
must retain their original confidentialstatus, and the said Board
would be responsible for Insuring against their public disclosure.
You are accordingly advised that it Is the opinion of
this office that the provisions of Article 4442d, Vernon's Civil
Statutes, permits the Board of Llcensure for Nursing Home Adminis-
trators to provide pertinent lnfozrmatlona8 desired to the Stati:
Department of Health-. The State Department of Health Is authorize::
under the provlslons.ofArticle 4442c, Vernon's Civil Statutes, to
provide file information to the Board of Llcensure for Nursing Home
Administratorsforlts own confidentialuse.
SUMMARY
The provisions of Article &4&2d, Vernon's
Civil Statutes, permits the Board of Llcensure
for Nursing Home Administratorsto provide per-
tinent Informationas desired to the S.tateDepart-
ment of Health. The State Department of Health 18
authorized, under the provisions of Article 444.?c,
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. ’
K(rr: I ii. M. Lawrence, Hon. J. E. Peavy, page 4 (M-713)
Vernon's Civil Statutes, to provide file In-
formation to the Board of Llcensu.refor Nursing
Home Admlnlstratorsfor It own confldentlaluse.
I,rzpared
by Malcolm L. Quick
AssistantAttorney Qeneral
i!?PR(IVED:
?K!NION COMMITTEE
Kerns Taylor, Chairman
-5;. E. Allen, Co-Chairman
.X:xWhite
Jack Sparks
LFisher Tyler
flaxHamilton
MiEhDEF. GRIFFIN
Staff Legal AsSiStant
ALtiREDWALKER
EXeCutiVs ASBiStSnt
NOLA WHITE
First Assistant
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