Getting HIPPA Access

valerieorr

How do you get HIPPA access when the person with dementia doesn't want you to have it? Right now, her sister is the only person she allows to go with her to her doctor visits. However, both her sister and my husband have medical POA's and he also has a regular POA.

My husband and I moved in with her to care for her in July 2023; her sisters were helping her with her appointments, paying bills, taking her shopping, etc. until they told us we needed to move in with her. She will often get paranoid and distrustful of us, so she still tends to depend a lot on her sisters.

M1

If you husband has medical POA, I think they will grant him HIPPA access by default, as he is the one making her medical decisions. He should discuss this with the doctor's office out of her hearing and give them a copy of the medical POA.

Quilting brings calm

I usually check my parents in at the appointment while they go sit down. That makes me the keeper of the clipboard. I then fill out the forms and just ask my parents occasional questions while filling it out. The HIPPA form is usually part of the checklist. You have the sister be the keeper of the clipboard with the medication list and other forms. she can put your name on the HIPPA form, and then hand the clipboard to the person to sign the forms. She can discretely cover up your or your spouse’s name on the page while helping to hold the clipboard. My parents never bother to read what forms I am having them sign while sitting in the waiting room.

harshedbuzz

If her doctors have a patient portal option, you can get information there. My mom doesn't have dementia but is not into anything computer related. I mostly use it to track appointments and test results. I do communicate routinely with her docs via the portal. Even though I do have HIPAA clearance for all mom's docs, pharmacies, insurance companies and hospital systems, some will contact her directly by phone if I make an inquiry and other will reply back through the portal.

If you have a concern, you can certainly share that with a doctor via the portal or even a note at check-in even if the doctor can't communicate back to you. Dad used to showtime with his geri-psych which made getting his medications adjusted difficult so I made a video of dad acting out and threatening me and emailed it to the doctor which resulted in getting the increase he needed to dial back his anxiety and delusions.

Guardianship is another route to accessing everything.

HB

M1

I looked into this a bit further, you may want to pull out your POA and read it. Looking online, many are now drafted to include access to personal health information (PHI). I don't see how you can function as her POA without this access as the doctors need to be running treatment decisions by you and not by her.

valerieorr

Thank you for all the helpful feedback! I deeply appreciate it!