University explains failure to report STD diagnoses

McCosh had actually been in violation of a 2003 state law that required reporting of STD cases by both diagnostic laboratories and healthcare providers.

The issue was first raised in an article published in the March issue of The Princeton Tory and written by former Tory publisher Matt Schmitz ’08. The article, titled “McCoshed: Clinic plagued by ethics lapses, incompetence leaves students at risk from STDs,” stated that McCosh’s failure to comply with the law was “a major breach in protecting public health.”

DHSS spokeswoman Linda Nasta said in an interview, though, that McCosh’s lapse was “a minor violation” and was corrected immediately. McCosh has since provided the department with all previous reports and is currently reporting STD diagnoses in compliance with the state regulations.

“As soon as we became aware of the issue, we addressed it,” University spokeswoman Cass Cliatt ’96 said, noting that “the University is always forthcoming in making any effort in being in compliance with state health policies.”

Schmitz, however, said in an interview yesterday that McCosh’s failure to report STDs was “alarming.” He added, that “one can downplay the importance of the law all they want, but the law was written for a reason, and that is to protect students.”

In June 2007, a New Jersey STD program surveillance coordinator visited McCosh Health Center and observed that McCosh had failed to report positive cases of STDs as required by a 2003 state regulation. DHSS conducts site visits in response to complaints from the public, Nasta said.

The June visit was spurred by an inquiry by Kyle Smith ’09, a student who was curious about the rate of STD infection on campus and decided to investigate further late last year. He contacted the DHSS, which was unable to find recent data submitted by the University.

Before 2003, state law required only laboratories to report positive STD tests to DHSS, but the administrative code was changed that year to require healthcare providers to report the data as well.

The University was unaware of the change in regulation until June 2007, Cliatt said. “Our understanding was that our lab, Quest Diagnostics, was reporting our cases to the state,” she explained.

Nasta confirmed that the laboratory reported all positive cases to the STD program and therefore “no cases were lost to follow-up,” she said.

The law requires healthcare providers to report cases of gonorrhea, chlamydia and syphilis to DHSS within 24 hours of diagnosis. The reports must include the name, date of birth, gender, race, ethnicity, home address and telephone number of the person with the infection.

“These reports enable the department to see the type and amount of disease in the state and refer appropriate cases for further follow-up by local health departments,” Nasta said.

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Failure to submit STD cases is not uncommon among healthcare providers. “Compliance varies,” Nasta said, adding that the state is “working to connect lab reports with reports from healthcare providers.”

“It’s not so unusual that UHS might have a visit from state officials to go over policies,” Cliatt said.

Schmitz, though, said he stands by the claims made in the Tory article. “The fact that both the state of New Jersey and McCosh have downplayed this case only means that they are trying to protect their own interest in a case where one of the parties has broken the law and the other party failed to catch that for an extended period of time,” he said.