Hospital Refused State Record Request

By Walter F. Roche Jr.

When state surveyors showed up at a rural Pennsylvania hospital and asked to look at patient safety and related records they were told they couldn't have them because the records were "confidential and protected."
In fact on three successive days in early June the state surveyors got the same response from officials of the Guthrie Towanda Memorial Hospital. On the next try they were given records but with large sections blacked out.
Left unreadable were sections of the minutes covering discussions and conclusions.
The confrontation earned the 35-bed hospital a citation for failing to comply with state licensing requirements.
"The facility was not able to provide this information because the information was considered confidential and protected," the inspection report states.
The records requested were meeting minutes for committees the hospital is required to maintain for patient safety, performance improvement and infection control.
Subsequently the hospital, located in Towanda, filed a plan of correction in which they promised to provide unredacted copies of the requested minutes by July 30.
The hospital was also cited for installing new imaging equipment without first notifying the state.