Hipaa Authorized Representative Form: Fill & Download for Free

Healthcare directives are a crucial part of any effective estate plan. These documents provide for a named representative, often a close family member, to make medical decisions on your behalf in the event that you become incapacitated.If there is a question as to whether you are truly incapacitated, though, the directive may not be sufficient to get your representative all the information they need in order to make an informed decision. This problem can arise even in situations in which it is clear you do not have the capacity.Because your medical and health situation affects so many other aspects of your life, virtually every estate-planning document can be potentially affected by a lack of HIPAA authorization.In another example, a durable power-of-attorney form that names someone to make financial decisions on your behalf may not be able to access all your medical billing information if you neglect to sign a HIPAA authorization form. This is the same case with living trusts and your named trustee.Just as incapacity prevents you from making medical decisions, it also prevents you from signing a HIPAA authorization form. This is why it is important to make your living Will, healthcare directive, or living trust HIPAA-compliant.doing so may mean your loved ones will have to go to court to request a subpoena to force your provider to release information. This could make a delicate and stressful situation even worse.

First, it’s HIPAA, not HIPPA.Second: No.Asking the employees is not a HIPAA violation. Providers do this with all patients by asking the patient or authorized representative to sign a HIPAA release form that allows them to know the medical history. Anyone who is authorized to sign a release on behalf of the patient, is also authorized to give out the information.Insurance companies are covered entities under HIPAA, and billing is one of a few exceptions to HIPAA. A covered entity can release protected information to another covered entity.Otherwise your doctor or hospital would not even be allowed to inform or confirm to your insurance company you were in their place or had any treatment at all. Which means they would never have to pay for anything.

I don’t have much experience with international law, but “protected groups” or “protected classes” under legal statutes and regulations are generally construed very narrowly - that’s been true forever.HOWEVER, the definition of “protected group or class” under many laws and regulations are generally expanded over time as loopholes and back doors are discovered, challenged, and corrected in the statutes and explained in regulations.As an example from my “world” - the HIPAA (“Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” of 1996) and HITECH (“Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act” of 2009) medical privacy acts are the laws that protect the privacy of your medical/health records. I’m sure you’ve noticed the “HIPAA forms” on every medical form you’ve every filled out. It explains who is entitled to see your medical records, when they can see them, how they can be transmitted if requested, and your recourse for non-compliance. The penalties for a medical facility, insurance co., etc. being careless with your medical records are SEVERE - hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines can be - and are - imposed by the Office of Civil Rights of U.S. Health and Human Services.Unfortunately, HIPAA defined “covered entity” - the people bound by those laws - very narrowly (basically doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies). And since this is America after all, the private sector came up with the idea of starting companies to handle the constant barrage of medical records requests that “covered entities” receive every year - my office alone requests hundreds and hundreds of medical records every year. These private companies locate them, reproduce them, and send them to the requesting patient or his/her representative (that part was challenged as well).The problem was that those third-party companies that handled your medical records for doctors, hospitals, etc. were NOT “covered entities” under HIPAA. As a result, if THEY were careless, you really had no recourse. To make matters worse, they charged a small fortune - “research fees,” “location fees,” “reproduction fees,” “$______ per page copied,” AND sales tax (since they were not the actual medical provider - you get the picture). Quite a little “cottage industry” developed in that area . . .So, to handle the growing problem, Congress passed HITECH - which closed the loopholes, included these third-party companies (and others) in the definition of “covered entity,” and recognizing that most records are now maintained on computer, made sending records electronically mandatory, limiting the amount they could charge to do so . . . to $6.50. Yes . . . Six dollars and fifty cents, whereas they used to charge $500 - $1,000. HITECH also made it very clear that if patients authorize the release of their protected health information (PHI) to a third party - say . . . a lawyer, said records were no longer covered by these privacy laws. Of course, there are many requirements for patient notification of this, but pay attention the next time you’re in a doctor’s office - the form will probably say “HITECH” - not “HIPAA.”