,
October 19, 1988
Mr. Joseph C. Gagen Opinion NO. J&966
Chairman
Texas Industrial Accident Re: Authority of the Industrial
Board Accident Board to permit Texas
1st Floor, 200 E. Riverside Rehabilitation Commission emp-
Austin, Texas 78704 loyees to review confidential
worker claim files to assist
the board (RQ-1444)
Dear Mr. Gagen:
you ask whether the Texas Industrial Accident Board may
allow Texas Rehabilitation Commission employees to review
workers* confidential claim files to assist the board in
identifying injured workers who may be eligible for voca-
tional rehabilitation services from the commission.
Section 7 of article 8306, V.T.C.S., requires the board
to notify the Texas Rehabilitation Commission (TRC) about
injured workers who might benefit from vocational rehabili-
tation:
Upon receipt thereof, the Board shall
promptly analyze each notice of injury
incurred by an injured employee covered
under this law. If the Board concludes
&hat vocational rehabilitation is indicated
J
take
* . the necessary stews to inform the
d emwlovee of the services and
facilities
. . available
. to him under the Texas
+.ehabll~.tatlon Comm ission and the Board
lmmediatelv shall notifv said Commission of
such case. . . . The Board shall co-operate
with said Texas Rehabilitation Commission
with reference to the work of said Commission
in providing said services and facilities to
injured employees covered under the pro-
visions of this law. . . . (Emphasis added.)
V.T.C.S. art. 8306, 5 7.
p. 4918
Mr. Joseph C. Gagen - Page 2 (JM-966)
At present, board employees review claims to identify
claimants who appear to be eligible for TRC services. These
persons are notified by mail of the available services and
encouraged to contact the commission. The Rehabilitation
Commission is sent a copy of the letter and thereby learns
the claimant's name, address, and file number.
You state that both agencies would like to increase
referrals and that review of claimants' files by TRC
employees would permit more accurate identification of
persons eligible for TRC's services, and would shift the
burden of initiating contact from the claimant to the com-
mission. The workers' claim files are, however, covered by
the confidentiality provision of article 8307, section 9a,
V.T.C.S., and you are concerned that this provision would
prevent TRC employees from reviewing the claim files.
Section 9a of article 8307, V.T.C.S., provides in part:
(a) Information in a worker's claim file
is confidential and may not be disclosed
except as provided in this section.
(b) If there is a workers' compensation
claim for the named claimant open or pending
before the Industrial Accident Board or . . .
[other circumstances not relevant] at the
time a record search or request for informa-
tion is presented to the Board, the informa-
tion shall be furnished as provided in this
section. . . . The Board will furnish the
requested information or a record check only
to the following:
(1) the claimant;
(2) the attorney for the claimant:
(3) the carrier:
(4) the employer at the time of the
current injury:
(5) third-party litigants;
(6) the State Board of Insurance: or
(7) the Texas Department of Human
Services.
p. 4919
Mr. Joseph C. Gagen - Page 3 (JM-966)
. . . .
(c) All information of the Industrial
Accident Board concerning any person who has
been finally adjudicated to be a fraudulent
claimant . . . is not confidential . . . .
V.T.C.S. art. 8307, 5 9a.
This confidentiality provision was addressed in
Attorney General Opinion RW-202 (1980). That opinion
considered whether section 9a of article 8307, V.T.C.S.,
barred the Industrial Accident Board from releasing
information in workers' claim files to certain federal and
state agencies not listed under section 9a(b) as entities
expressly authorized to receive it. The opinion stated that
"[t]he initial provisions of section 9a clearly limit claim
file information to certain persons and state agencies
only . . . .'I Attorney General Opinion Rx-202 at 2 (1980).
There were no paramount federal laws which required such
information to be released to the federal agencies seeking
it, nor any state laws which required its release to the
state agencies. The opinion refused to broaden the access
provisions of section 9a despite arguments that this con-
struction would be consistent with the policy underlying the
confidentiality provision.
We conclude, based on the plain language of section 9a
and on the reasoning and conclusion of Attorney General
Opinion W-202, that the Industrial Accident Board may not
permit employees of the Texas.Rehabilitation Commission to
review workers' claim files. The board's duty to cooperate
with the Rehabilitation Commission under section 7 of
article 8306 can be carried out after the injured worker
becomes a client of the commission, for example, in the pro-
vision of medical care relevant to the individual's voca-
tional rehabilitation. &g V.T.C.S. 8306, 5 7 (association
shall furnish treatments necessary to restore employee's
physical capacity or to relieve pain, but not for any
other phase of vocational rehabilitation): Hum. Res. Code
SS 111.052(b)(l) (authority of TRC to cooperate with other
agencies): 111.051(b)(6) (authority of TRC to contract with
health care providers for physical restoration and other
rehabilitation services). The board's duty to cooperate
with TRC is not in conflict with its duty to maintain the
confidentiality of claim files in accordance with section 9a
of article 8307, V.T.C.S. Section 7 of article 8306,
V.T.C.S., does not provide a basis for finding an implied
exceptionin favor of TRC to the section 9a confidentiality
provision.
P. 4920
Mr. Joseph C. Gagen - Page 4 (JM-966)
SUMMARX
Section 9a of article 8307, V.T.C.S., pro-
hibits the Industrial Accident Board from
disclosing confidential worker claim files to
employees of the Texas Rehabilitation Commis-
sion.
LJ ihciak
Very truly yo ,
A;,
JIM MATTOX
Attorney General of Texas
MARYKELLER
First Assistant Attorney General
mu MccREARY
Executive Assistant Attorney General
JUDGE ZOLLIE STEARLEY
Special Assistant Attorney General
RICK GILPIN
Chairman, Opinion Committee
Prepared by Susan L. Garrison
Assistant Attorney General
P. 4921