Long Term Care Act Case Study

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California Supreme Court Clarifies Long Term Care Act’s Application to Release of Confidential Information

The California Supreme Court has clarified the application of the Long-Term Care Act’s disclosure requirements in consideration of Welfare and Institutions Code section 5328’s general prohibition against the release of information contained in the course of providing treatment to mentally ill and developmentally disabled individuals.

In State Dept. of Public Health v. Superior Court (2015) 60 Cal.4th 940, the Supreme Court considered the issue of whether the disclosure requirements of the Long-Term Care Act (LTCA) or Welfare and Institutions Code section 5328 applied where a public records request was made for health records. The case involved the Center for Investigative Reporting, a news organization investigating the treatment of mentally ill and developmentally disabled in state owned health care facilities, which issued a public records request to the Department of Public Health (DPH) for copies of all citations issued to the facilities it was investigating.
Under the LTCA, detailed requirements regarding the contents of citations issued by the DPH are outlined, including the fact that such citations are public records. The LTCA …show more content…

Where a public records request is made for citations, the specific, narrowly tailored rules regarding the redaction of those records under the LTCA will apply over a more general confidentiality provision. Confusion and incorrect application of the law can easily occur where, as here, one law trumps another under specific facts. It is important that care facilities obtain experienced and knowledgeable legal counsel to ensure it complies with all legal

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