Open Records Decision No. 250
August 29, 1980

	Re:  Whether information concerning the sale of hospitals is available to the 
public under the Open Records Act

Dr. Robert Bernstein
Commissioner of Health
Texas Department of Health
1100 West 49th Street
Austin, Texas 78756

Dear Dr. Bernstein:

	You have requested our decision as to whether information pertaining to the sale 
of county hospitals owned by county hospital authorities is available to the public under 
the Open Records Act, article 6252-17a, V.T.C.S.

	Article 4494r, V.T.C.S., establishes the procedure for creation of a county 
hospital authority.  Any facility operating thereunder must be licensed by the State Board 
of Health in accordance with the provisions of article 4437f, V.T.C.S.  Section 2(b)-(d).  
You have received a request to disclose:  (1) whether any hospital owned by a county 
hospital authority established under article 4494r has been sold to a proprietary hospital 
company; (2) the previous and present owners of any such facility; and (3) details of the 
procedure by which transfer was effected.

	Section 15 of article 4437f provides:

	Information received by the Licensing Agency through reports, 
inspections, or as otherwise authorized under this law, shall not be 
disclosed publicly in such manner as to identify individuals or 
hospitals, except in a proceeding brought under Section 9 of this 
Act.

This provision, while not prohibiting disclosure of all information about county authority 
hospitals, certainly precludes disclosure of any information relating to an individual 
facility.  The release of non-identifying, statistical information would not be contrary to 
the statutory directive.  Thus, in our opinion, you should disclose whether any hospital 
owned by a county hospital authority established under article 4494r has been sold to a 
proprietary hospital company although the identity of the authority should not be 
revealed.  Release of the other requested information, would, in our view, contravene the 
prohibition of section 15 of article 4437f.

Very truly yours,

Mark White
Attorney General of Texas

John W. Fainter, Jr.
First Assistant Attorney General

Prepared by Rick Gilpin
Assistant Attorney General

APPROVED:
OPINION COMMITTEE

C. Robert Heath, Chairman
Jon Bible
Susan Garrison
Rick Gilpin
Bruce Youngblood