About that HIPPA form

jfkoc

https://www.hipaahq.com/hipaa-forms-explained-privacy-and-authorization/

Jo C.

This is a very important topic. NOTE:  Do NOT expect the doctor's office or any hospital to be able to find the HIPAA Waiver you signed and provided to them at an earlier date.

My experience with both elderly LOs was that the different doctor's offices AND the hospitals could never, ever find the documents or information that I had already provided for the medcal record re my LOs.  Never.  It was so bad, that I carried copies of the HIPAA Waivers in a manila envelope which I kept in the pocket on the back of the car seat.   They went with me everywhere, and many times I was so glad I had them as I had to make unexpected ER runs from home or from work, etc.

On one dreadful occasion, my elderly mother had a stroke and had been admitted. I was her only contact and had ID for myself.  The supervising RN at the hospital unit where my mother was would not talk to me about my mother whatsoever because she did not have a copy of a HIPAA Waiver form.  So; there I was, stuck.  No knowledge of mother's condition, diagnostics, treatment, etc. and no relenting or even a hint of sharing.   Doctor unable to be reached. At that point, I simply had no recourse.  I then decided to carry copies of relevant forms in my car.

At one point, an absolutely necessary document was needed, but my poor unconscious LO had not signed such a document.  No money or life making decisions were involved at all; so I simply printed off a copy of such a document, after entering pertinent information and then signed the document with my LOs name. A notary was not required.  Shameful, and I felt awful doing that, but SO necessary.

HIPAA can be a valuable document, but HIPAA law can also be a huge problem in a variety of ways where the rubber hits the road.

J.

jfkoc

Jo...the article makes some interesting points for not signing either form. I was surprised.

note; It is HIPAA not HIPPA as written in my title

Crushed

Jo C. wrote:

 The supervising RN at the hospital unit where my mother was would not talk to me about my mother whatsoever because she did not have a copy of a HIPAA Waiver form.  So; there I was, stuck.  No knowledge of mother's condition, diagnostics, treatment, etc. and no relenting or even a hint of sharing.   Doctor unable to be reached. At that point, I simply had no recourse.  I then decided to carry copies of relevant forms in my car.

Ask for a refusal  in writing for potential litigation That will normally get a supervisor who may be more informed  on the law.  They have to make an individual determination 

if a patient is not present or if it’s “impracticable because of emergency circumstances or the patient’s incapacity for the covered entity to ask the patient about discussing her care or payment with a family member or other person,” HIPAA says that clinicians can disclose information if they determine that doing so is in the best interest of the patient. 

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Pat6177

I never heard of the HIPAA Release form until I started reading this forum. And so far, when I have attended dr appts with DH, no medical provider has asked me to sign such a form. 

Even after reading the article, I’m not clear on when the form is required.

And how does the HIPAA Release form work with Medical POA? When we went to the lawyer and did wills, trust, durable POAs and medical POAs, the lawyer never mentioned the HIPAA release. Is this an additional form I should have DH sign? 

Crushed

There is no official form any POA that give you the right to inspect medical records is valid
Here is the language I used
  


 

Lynne D

Crushed is 100% correct. HIPAA was not designed to, no ever should, impede patient care and gives the medical professional the latitude to talk with family members. HIPAA is not nearly as restrictive a regulation as we experience; it is overzealous and under-educated health care workers that mis-apply it. That being said, you are probably better off complying with their unnecessary requests for paperwork. Another challenge is that some medical providers require an authorization to share information with another provider. This is NOT necessary if they share a treatment relationship with the patient. (I used to be the HIPAA privacy officer for a state’s Medicaid program.)