 ATTORNEY GENERAL OF TEXAS GREG ABBOTT | |
 |
April 25, 2012 Mr. Carey E. Smith General Counsel Texas Health and Human Services Commission P.O. Box 13247 Austin, Texas 78711 OR2012-05913 Dear Mr. Smith: You ask whether certain information is subject to required public disclosure under the Public Information Act (the "Act"), chapter 552 of the Government Code. Your request was assigned ID# 451735 (OR-20120202-6595). The Texas Health and Human Services Commission (the "commission") received a request for information pertaining to complaints about the Medicaid Medical Transportation Program. You claim some of the requested information is excepted from disclosure under section 552.101 of the Government Code. We have considered the exception you claim and reviewed the submitted representative sample of information. (1) Section 552.101 of the Government Code excepts from disclosure "information considered to be confidential by law, either constitutional, statutory, or by judicial decision." Gov't Code § 552.101. This section encompasses information other statutes make confidential. You raise section 552.101 in conjunction with sections 12.003 and 21.012 of the Human Resources Code. Section 12.003 of the Human Resources Code provides in relevant part: (a) Except for purposes directly connected with the administration of the [commission's] assistance programs, it is an offense for a person to solicit, disclose, receive, or make use of, or to authorize, knowingly permit, participate in, or acquiesce in the use of the names of, or any information concerning, persons applying for or receiving assistance if the information is directly or indirectly derived from the records, papers, files, or communications of the [commission] or acquired by employees of the [commission] in the performance of their official duties. Hum. Res. Code § 12.003(a); see also id. § 21.012 (requiring provision of safeguards that restrict use or disclosure of information concerning applicants for or recipients of assistance programs to purposes directly connected with administration of programs). (2) The term "assistance" in sections 12.003 and 21.012 includes "all forms of assistance and services for needy persons authorized by Subtitle C" of title 2 of the Human Resources Code. Id. § 11.001(4); see also id. § 31.001 et seq. (Hum. Res. Code tit. 2, subtit. C, Assistance Programs). In Open Records Decision No. 584 (1991), this office concluded that "[t]he inclusion of the words 'or any information' juxtaposed with the prohibition on disclosure of the names of [commission] clients clearly expresses a legislative intent to encompass the broadest range of individual client information, and not merely the clients' names and addresses." ORD 584 at 3. Consequently, it is the specific information pertaining to individual clients, and not merely the clients' identities, that is made confidential under section 12.003. See also 42 U.S.C. § 1396a(a)(7) (state plan for medical assistance must provide safeguards that restrict use or disclosure of information concerning applicants and recipients to purposes directly connected with administration of plan); 42 C.F.R. §§ 431.300 et seq.; Hum. Res. Code § 21.012(a); Open Records Decision No. 166 (1977). You seek to withhold portions of the information at issue that identify and relate to Medicaid recipients. You inform us, in this instance, the release of this information would not be for purposes directly connected with the administration of a health and human services program. Based on your representations and our review, we conclude the information you have marked, in addition to the information we have marked, is confidential under section 12.003 of the Human Resources Code and must be withheld under section 552.101 of the Government Code. As you raise no other exceptions to disclosure, the remaining information at issue must be released to the requestor. This letter ruling is limited to the particular information at issue in this request and limited to the facts as presented to us; therefore, this ruling must not be relied upon as a previous determination regarding any other information or any other circumstances. This ruling triggers important deadlines regarding the rights and responsibilities of the governmental body and of the requestor. For more information concerning those rights and responsibilities, please visit our website at http://www.oag.state.tx.us/open/index_orl.php, or call the Office of the Attorney General's Open Government Hotline, toll free, at (877) 673-6839. Questions concerning the allowable charges for providing public information under the Act must be directed to the Cost Rules Administrator of the Office of the Attorney General, toll free at (888) 672-6787. Sincerely, Sean Nottingham Assistant Attorney General Open Records Division SN/akg Ref: ID# 451735 Enc. Submitted documents c: Requestor (w/o enclosures) Footnotes1. We assume the "representative sample" of records submitted to this office is truly representative of the requested records as a whole. See Open Records Decision Nos. 499 (1988), 497 (1988). This open records letter does not reach, and therefore does not authorize the withholding of, any other requested records to the extent that those records contain substantially different types of information than that submitted to this office. 2. We note the former Texas Department of Human Services ("DHS") ceased operations on September 1, 2004, and the commission now administers the Medicaid program formerly administered by DHS. See Health and Human Services Commission website at http://www.hhsc.state.tx.us; Act of June 2, 2003, 78th Leg., R.S., ch. 198, 2003 Tex. Gen. Laws 611.
POST OFFICE BOX 12548, AUSTIN, TEXAS 78711-2548 TEL: (512) 463-2100 WEB: WWW.OAG.STATE.TX.US |