Opinion ID: 4565245
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: ANTHC’s Code of Conduct and Disclosure Policy

Text: A couple of years after the Executive Committee was created, the Board amended its code of conduct (the “Code of Conduct”) “to clarify expectations and processes regarding handling conflicts of interest and confidential information.” According to SCF, these changes clarified that Directors could share with their designating entities certain information such as Board resolutions and final meeting minutes, but they stopped short of permitting full disclosure of Board material. In order to share any “confidential or sensitive” information with their designating entity, Directors needed the permission of Teuber or the Chair of the Ethics and Compliance Committee. The Board also adopted a Disclosure of Records and Information Policy (the “Disclosure Policy”) in September 2016. According to SCF, the Disclosure Policy further restricted the information that ANTHC could share with the regional health entities and their designated Directors on the Board by “drastically limit[ing] Directors’ access to what ANTHC considered to be ‘[c]onfidential, proprietary, and other sensitive information.’” Specifically, the Disclosure Policy provided that Directors may “make reasonable inquiries to fulfill their fiduciary responsibilities, including SOUTHCENTRAL FOUNDATION V. ANTHC 9 their duty of representation,” but that the “disclosure of confidential, sensitive, proprietary or privileged information may be conditioned on adequate safeguards and assurances.” The Policy stated that “[o]rdinarily, requests are unreasonable to the extent they are unduly burdensome; likely to disrupt operations; . . . or otherwise inconsistent with the scope of a Director’s responsibilities.” The Disclosure Policy also provided that “[c]onfidential, proprietary and other sensitive information may also be provided to Directors and other individuals, organizations and agencies in appropriate cases if adequate safeguards are in place to protect the integrity, confidentiality and use of the information[.]” In other words, according to SCF, the Disclosure Policy gave unidentified ANTHC personnel absolute discretion to determine what information could be shared, even with ANHC’s Directors, with a rebuttable presumption against disclosure.