State ex rel. Enquirer v. Daniels, 2005-0068.

• Decision Date: 17 March 2006
• Docket Number: No. 2005-0068.,2005-0068.
• Citation: 844 N.E.2d 1181,2006 Ohio 1215,108 Ohio St.3d 518
• Parties: The STATE ex rel. CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, Division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc., Appellant, v. DANIELS, Interim Health Commr., et al., Appellees.
• Court: Ohio Supreme Court

844 N.E.2d 1181

108 Ohio St.3d 518

2006-Ohio-1215

The STATE ex rel. CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, Division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc., Appellant, v. DANIELS, Interim Health Commr., et al., Appellees.

No. 2005-0068.

Supreme Court of Ohio.

Submitted October 11, 2005.

Decided March 17, 2006.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Graydon, Head & Ritchey, L.L.P., John C. Greiner, John A. Flanagan, Cincinnati, and Katherine M. Lasher, for appellant.

Julia L. McNeil, Columbus, and Terrance A. Nestor, Office of the Cincinnati City Solicitor, for appellees.

O'DONNELL, J.

{¶ 1} We focus our attention in this appeal on the question of whether the Cincinnati Enquirer, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, Inc., may, pursuant to R.C. 149.43, Ohio's Public Records Act, obtain copies of the Cincinnati Health Department's lead-contamination notices issued to property owners of units reported to be the residences of children whose blood tests indicated elevated lead levels. Relying on the Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information contained in the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act ("HIPAA"), 110 Stat. 1938, the city of Cincinnati and the Health Commissioner and Assistant Health Commissioner of the Cincinnati Health Department declined to release copies of the requested citations.

{¶ 2} Upon careful review of the record and the Ohio Public Records Act and the privacy provisions of HIPAA, we conclude, first, that the requested lead citations and lead-assessment reports do not contain protected health information as defined by federal law, HIPAA, and are, therefore, subject to disclosure; second, that even if we did determine that those lead citations and risk-assessment reports contained protected health information and even if we determined that the Cincinnati Health Department operated as a covered entity as defined by HIPAA, the requested lead-assessment reports would still be subject to disclosure under the "required by law" exception to the HIPAA privacy rule because the Ohio Public Records Law, R.C. 149.43, requires disclosure of these reports, and federal law, HIPAA, does not supersede state disclosure requirements.

{¶ 3} Accordingly, for the following reasons, we grant the requested writ of mandamus in favor of the Cincinnati Enquirer and order the release of the requested citations related to lead-contaminated properties in Cincinnati.

{¶ 4} The history of this case reflects that on January 16, 2004, Cincinnati Enquirer reporter Sharon Coolidge requested that the Assistant Health Commissioner of the Cincinnati Health Department, Walter Handy, provide "copies of the 343 lead citations and any others that were issued between 1994 and the present."

{¶ 5} The Cincinnati Health Department, citing Section 1320d et seq., Title 42, U.S.Code, the HIPAA Standards for Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information (Privacy Rule, Part 160, subparts A and B and Part 164, Title 45, C.F.R.) expressed its inability to accommodate the Enquirer's request.

{¶ 6} Thereafter, on February 11, 2004, the Enquirer filed a mandamus action in the Hamilton County Court of Appeals seeking to compel the health commissioner and assistant health commissioner to make the requested records available for inspection and copying in accordance with R.C. 149.43, the Ohio Public Records Act. On December 30, 2004, the court of appeals denied the writ, reasoning that although "the lead-investigation reports are public records generated as a result of the health department's mission in the community," appellees had established "an exception to disclosure because of the reference to blood test results for children currently residing at particular addresses." State ex rel. Cincinnati Enquirer v. Adcock, Hamilton App. No. C-040064, 2004-Ohio-7130, 2004 WL 3015324, at ¶ 9.

{¶ 7} This cause is now before the court upon the Enquirer's appeal as of right. Before our consideration of the matter, however, we referred this case to mediation. Thereafter, the health department released 170 of the lead citations that had been issued to property owners of other than single-family residences. In reliance on HIPAA, however, the health department still maintains its inability to provide access to unredacted copies of the remaining 173 lead citations issued to owners of single-family residential property.

{¶ 8} We begin our review by examining the law with respect to disclosure of public records. The state of Ohio has a long-standing public policy committed to open public records, as expressed in R.C. 149.43, and the Supreme Court of Ohio has consistently enforced that policy in its decisions in connection with requests pursuant to that statute. In State ex rel. Miami Student v. Miami Univ. (1997), 79 Ohio St.3d 168, 170, 680 N.E.2d 956, we stated, "The Ohio Public Records Act is intended to be liberally construed `to ensure that governmental records be open and made available to the public * * * subject to only a few very limited and narrow exceptions.' State ex rel. Williams v. Cleveland (1992), 64 Ohio St.3d 544, 549, 597 N.E.2d 147, 151. R.C. 149.43 therefore provides for full access to all public records upon request unless the requested records fall within one of the specific exceptions listed in the Act."

{¶ 9} The Cincinnati Enquirer asserts its entitlement to the lead citations pursuant to R.C. 149.43 on the basis that they constitute public records, not exempt from disclosure, and that HIPAA's privacy rule does not apply to the citations issued by the Cincinnati Health Department.

{¶ 10} Contrariwise, respondents contend that HIPAA's privacy rule permits the health department to withhold the citations from public release because it is a covered entity subject to HIPAA and therefore cannot release records that contain individually identifiable health information.

Public Records v. HIPAA

{¶ 11} For the first time, we address the conflict-of-laws poser where a state public-records law, here R.C. 149.43, requires disclosure of a public record, while federal law, HIPAA and its privacy rule, specifically prohibits disclosure of protected health information.

{¶ 12} We begin by reviewing R.C. 149.43(B)(1), which specifies: "[A]ll public records shall be promptly prepared and made available for inspection to any person at all reasonable times during regular business hours."

{¶ 13} In accordance with this mandate, the Enquirer seeks to obtain copies of the lead citations at issue on this appeal.

{¶ 14} Accordingly, our first concern is to define the scope of the information the Enquirer seeks from the Cincinnati Health Department. The record here contains Exhibit C, consisting of the notices and a copy of a multipage form utilized by the department to notify property owners of the results of the lead-assessment investigations conducted at various dwelling units throughout the city of Cincinnati. Only one sentence in the 14-page narrative has any reference to medical information or medical conditions. That one sentence contained in the notice to the property owner states in its entirety: "This unit has been reported to our department as the residence of a child whose blood test indicates an elevated lead level."

{¶ 15} Section 160.103, Title 45, C.F.R. defines "health information" to include information created by a public health authority that relates to the past, present, or future physical condition of an individual.

{¶ 16} Further, the lead-citation notices issued by the health department reveal that they are intended to advise the owners of real estate about results of department investigations and to apprise them of violations relating to lead hazards; the report identifies existing and potential lead hazards on the exterior and interior of the property, details the tests performed on the property and the results of those tests, explains the abatement measures required, provides advice about options to correct the problem, and mandates reporting of abatement measures, including the name of the abatement contractor, the abatement method, and the date of expected abatement completion. Nothing contained in these reports identifies by name, age, birth date, social security number, telephone number, family information, photograph, or other identifier any specific individual or details any specific medical examination, assessment, diagnosis, or treatment of any medical condition. There is a mere nondescript reference to "a" child with "an" elevated lead level.

{¶ 17} Thus, the facts here are in sharp contrast with those in our decision in State ex rel. McCleary v. Roberts (2000), 88 Ohio St.3d 365, 725 N.E.2d 1144, for example, where the city database at issue contained specific identifiable information, including names, addresses, phone numbers, family information, photographs, and medical information of children, that we determined was exempt from public disclosure; we held there that the information did not constitute a public record because it did not document the operation of an office. Here, while we concern ourselves with the question of whether the lead citations contain "protected health information," and therefore face a different issue from that confronted in McCleary, we nonetheless recognize that none of the specific identifiable information referred to in McCleary is part of the information contained in the lead-citation notices or risk-assessment reports prepared by the health department and requested by the Enquirer in this case.

{¶ 18} The prohibition against disclosure contained in the HIPAA privacy rule refers to the release of otherwise protected health information. It provides: "A covered entity may not use or disclose protected health information, except as permitted or required by this subpart or by subpart C of part 160 of this subchapter." Section 164.502(a), Title 45, C.F.R. After careful review of the record, we have concluded that the...