Regional One, Memphis City Council clash over access to crime victims

Regional One Health, the area’s main trauma center, has said it cannot give a city-sponsored violence intervention group access to patients at the hospital without violating federal privacy laws. This comes despite Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital allowing the program to operate at the center, which treats pediatric victims of violent crime.

Regional One said it “knows firsthand the impact violent crime has on this community and the importance of violence intervention strategies” but that it was unable to grant access to the program.

“Our legal team has tried to work with Group Violence Intervention Program to find a compliant way to assist in their violence prevention efforts, however, to date the requests brought to Regional One Health potentially violate our patient’s privacy and Federal HIPAA laws,” the hospital said in a statement.

Regional One's response follows the Memphis City Council applying political pressure on the hospital after the city of Memphis said its group violence intervention program was not getting access to patients.

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Jimmie Johnson, the city's director of GVIP, told the City Council Tuesday his program had not been granted access to the hospital to interview patients who had been impacted by gun violence and help stem retaliatory incidents. As of August, 837 violent crimes had been reported to Memphis police, according to a city data dashboard.

A "major violent crime," as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, includes homicide, aggravated assault, rape and robbery. It was not immediately clear how many shootings had been reported this year.

Johnson's program is relatively new, and he was hired earlier this year. The city, as part of the program, is funding two staff positions at Le Bonheur.

The City Council grew alarmed at what Johnson said, and Councilman Jeff Warren, a local doctor who pushed Memphis Mayor Jim Strickland toward the group violence intervention program, questioned why Le Bonheur could give the city access but not Regional One.

The council introduced and then passed a nonbinding resolution urging the Shelby County Commission, which funds Regional One, to grant the city access.

Regional One said it had previously launched a Hospital-based Violence Intervention Program, in partnership with the previous city administration and the Bloomberg foundation. That program is part of a nationwide network of HVIP programs.

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That program has similar aims to the city-sponsored initiative, according to information from the Health Alliance for Violent Intervention.

“HVIPs are multidisciplinary programs that combine the efforts of medical staff with trusted community-based partners to provide safety planning, services, and trauma-informed care to violently injured people, many of whom are boys and men of color,” according to the alliance’s website.

“Engaging patients in the hospital, during their recovery, is a golden opportunity to improve lives and reduce retaliation and recidivism. The support network continues once patients are released with a pathway for outpatient care and other services.”

Regional One said it was open to exploring other options “to reduce crime in our great city, and welcomes the opportunity to collaborate and leverage violence prevention resources.”

“As we treat individuals that are victims of violent crimes, our primary responsibility is to provide the highest quality of care to them and their families,” the hospital said. “We have an obligation to not only treat them, but to follow Federal law that mandates we protect the privacy of our patients under our care.”

Corinne S Kennedy covers healthcare and economic development for The Commercial Appeal. She can be reached via email at Corinne.Kennedy@CommercialAppeal.com.

Samuel Hardiman covers Memphis city government and politics for The Commercial Appeal. He can be reached via email at samuel.hardiman@commercialappeal.com or followed on Twitter at @samhardiman

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Memphis hospital, city council clash over access to crime victims