Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Health Department to Release Names of Nursing Homes with Covid-19 Patients Tomorrow

The Mississippi Department of Health will start posting the names of nursing homes suffering Covid-19 outbreaks tomorrow.  MSDH stated in a press release today:


After reviewing the recent Hinds County Chancery Court ruling regarding the release of possible protected patient information, the Mississippi Attorney General’s office has recommended that the Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) release the names of current long-term care facilities that have COVID-19 outbreaks.

Beginning tomorrow, the names of these facilities will be posted on the MSDH website and updated daily. Please keep in mind the list will include the name and county of the facility only, not a breakdown of the number of cases associated with each facility.

The Mississippi Public Records Act provides for the release of public documents already in existence, such as the list of LTCFs with COVID-19 outbreaks. Information requests for facility-specific data will have to be addressed at a later time. The MSDH is not currently able to pull frontline epidemiological staff to perform such queries as they are focusing on contact tracing and case investigations.

The Health Department refused to divulge the names of such nursing homes.  Hattiesburg Publishing filed a public records request for a list of nursing homes that reported outbreaks to the Health Department.   The agency simply told the publisher it didn't have time to respond to the request.

Hattiesburg Publishing sued the Health Department in Hinds County Chancery Court.  Chancellor Tiffany Grove held a hearing ten days ago.  She ordered the Health Department to provide an answer to the request.  The agency was free to decline the request but had to cite its reason for doing so.



18 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh Goodie. The liberal ragweed on this board will be jumping with joy.

Anonymous said...

Have the families been being notified already? Families should be told.

Anonymous said...

I guess the answer to what do you do without an opinions division is wait until someone gets sued then fold the tent and go home

Anonymous said...

All the Health Department has to say is that releasing the name of the nursing home will drive future business off.

Anonymous said...

Even without an Opinions Division, the Health Dept has 4 in-house AG attorneys that should have known better. Health Dept has addressed hundreds of public records requests over the years and they have a public relations person and they all should have known better.

Just Shoot Me said...

If one researches the history of “nursing homes,” it will be obvious to the reader that they are warehouses for the old. Some are country clubs, some are just waystations before the morgue...

Anonymous said...

Didn't Lynn fire the 4 attorneys at the Health Dept?

Anonymous said...

All nursing homes are semblances of The Hotel California.

And any lawyer, administrator or person with walking around sense should know that releasing the names of facilities is NOT a HIPAA violation as many have tried to claim.

Nor is it the responsibility of a Health Department to protect the customer-generated income of a nursing home by shielding this information from the public.

Anonymous said...

>>>Nor is it the responsibility of a Health Department to protect the customer-generated income of a nursing home by shielding this information from the public.

So all those campaign contributions apparently don't git-r-dun as far as keeping the profits up and the secrets still a secret? Does the nursing home industry have a false pretenses lawsuit in 3,2,1 to get their money back?

Anonymous said...

it’s the perception of covid-19 in retirement homes....

Anonymous said...

Would this lead to an HIPPA Compliance Law Suit? While, I'm sure, patient information is not to be released, will naming the NH/LTC Facilities allow other entities go to families for follow up as I'm sure that somehow there is a way to get a patient listing.

https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/privacy/index.html

Anonymous said...

No, 9:16...this would NOT be a HIPAA violation. HIPAA only deals with patient confidential and personally identifiable information. If you can manage to get a patient listing with the specific name of a facility, you can do that (although I doubt it) with or without the Health Department listing that facility.

Please let us know how you are able to 'get a patient listing' for ANY medical facility, much less a nursing home. You should also try to spell the acronym for HIPAA correctly.

Anonymous said...

"..they are warehouses for the old. Some are country clubs, some are just waystations before the morgue."

Regardless of your crude attempt at the macabre, whether they are 'country clubs' or 'waystations', many check in but few check out.

Anonymous said...

I am happy they are doing it as I have one relative in a VA facility and one in a local metro area "retirement home". They are adamant that there are no cases in the local retirement home and I want to see with my own eyes and make sure that is the case. They are being cautious, I hope what they are saying is true. If not, they are lying to the families. Big $$$ are paid for this and so it matters to me just to know if they are telling the truth for all the $$$ spent.

Anonymous said...

For a long time, there has been an irrational fear of law suits for HIPPA violations on the part of the medical community.

It has made me wonder if the their attorneys are incompetent or trying to justify their existence.

I remember being told when relieving a friend who had a premie in NICU, not to " look or glance " at the other babies or I'd be asked to leave. That was , given any identifiers, more than a little absurd.

It's more absurd for a quarantine. Contagious people have always been identified by necessity. I knew who had polio. And, usually, it's nice for people to know you are sick as they send flowers and food.

We've lost all common sense and all institutional knowledge.

Anonymous said...

I hope Lynn is making exceptions for her staffers commenting on this post in her defense.

Marcus Welby And Friends said...

"So all those campaign contributions apparently don't git-r-dun as far as keeping the profits up and the secrets still a secret? Does the nursing home industry have a false pretenses lawsuit in 3,2,1 to get their money back? June 3, 2020 at 7:49 AM"

Please,in your spare time, tell us, as best you can, just what the hell this post means. Take your time. If you can't explain this post, we'll understand that you just had not taken your meds.

Anonymous said...

I haven’t seen a list yet. Is it buried in the Health Dept site?



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