HIPAA AUTHORIZATION AND RELEASE
A HIPAA Authorization & Release is a legal document that allows your medical providers (including your physicians and hospital personnel) to discuss your medical status with the individuals named in the document.
Because the privacy and security standards of HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) are strictly designed to protect the confidentiality and integrity of individually identifiable health information, your doctors are unable under the law to discuss your diagnoses and other health care information with anyone other than you. By executing a valid HIPAA Authorization & Release, you provide your legal authorization to allow your medical records and health care information to be shared with the individuals that you choose.
Of primary importance for inclusion on your HIPAA Release will be the agent named in your Medical Power of Attorney to make health care decisions for you in the event of your incapacity. Because the HIPAA privacy laws are stringent, many hospitals will not allow your medical records or diagnoses be shared even with a validly-appointed agent under a Medical Power of Attorney. Obviously, it will be difficult to impossible for an agent to make a prudent and informed decision regarding your health care without the ability to speak with your doctors in detail about your condition. Thus it is very important to have the safeguard of a HIPAA Release in place in conjunction with any Medical Power of Attorney that you execute.
Others that are often named on a HIPAA Release are a spouse, children, parents or other close relatives. Anyone with whom you feel comfortable allowing access to your private health care information may be appointed on a HIPAA Release.
The HIPAA Authorization & Release is also designed to survive you, in order to give your heirs access to your medical records after your demise. This aspect is beneficial in allowing individuals that you choose to obtain information that may be needed in a medical malpractice or wrongful death case. It may also provide a means of allowing your descendants to learn about their own medical history.
It is strongly recommended that you seek competent legal advice from the qualified Estate Planning attorneys at Garg & Associates prior to drafting a HIPAA Authorization & Release. If the legal guidelines with regard to valid creation of this document are not followed, medical institutions may challenge the document as invalid and decline to honor it. Therefore it is very important to contact the attorneys at Garg & Associates to fully discuss the scope of HIPAA Releases, their use, and their proper creation.
Call Garg and Associates today at 281.475.4640 or complete our Contact Form and let us assist you with your wills and trusts.
|
