Davis County Hospital to comply and release records

By MARK NEWMAN Courier staff writer

May 20, 2008 12:48 am

— BLOOMFIELD — Davis County Hospital will comply with a court order, but they are not happy with the decision
On May 1, a judge of the Eighth Judicial District ordered DCH to make public the names, addresses, salaries and job titles of its employees. The hospital had requested court permission to keep that information confidential.
Court action had been brought about by a Bloomfield resident who wanted to view the records. Records at institutions that receive any taxpayer funding are typically required to make certain records available to the general public.
“While the hospital disagrees with the court’s ruling, it is complying [and] releasing the more specific payroll records,” the hospital board wrote in a statement to the press this week.
They have maintained since the beginning that releasing such information would be detrimental to the people of Davis County.
For example, they say competing private hospitals now have access to salary information that can be used to unfairly compete for health professionals.
That means this precedent gives an advantage to large hospitals, DCH said.
They added that they “remain concerned about the possible misuses of personal information about our employees.”
The information provides “personal, confidential” financial information that could be used inappropriately, like by those perpetrating identification theft.
“In this Information Age we live in, perhaps the most challenging public policy issue we face is to balance access to public records while protecting the personal privacy interest of our employees,” the hospital board wrote. “We have worked hard to find the correct balance between transparency and the public’s right to information.”