Resident’s Estate Entitled to Names and Contact Information for Other Residents of Assisted Living Facility

With minimal analysis, a federal district court judge has overruled an assisted living facility’s privacy objections based on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) and has ordered the facility to disclose the names, dates of residence, and contact information for assisted living residents who lived in the facility during the same time as the decedent, or within six months prior to the decedent’s admission.

Other facility arguments rejected by the court include the claims that disclosure would harm the facility’s business, and that the resident’s estate had adequate information from investigations conducted by independent agencies. Holder v. Am. Retirement Corp., __ F. Supp. 2d __, 2006 WL 1074056, 2006 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 24407 (D. S.C. 2006).