The HIPAA Privacy Rule was established to protect your personal health information and medical records. While the HIPAA laws were designed to protect your privacy, they can sometimes make it difficult for your family or attorney in fact to gain access to your medical records.

If your estate planning documents are current, the HIPAA provisions should be included in your Advance Health Care Directives. Advance Health Care Directives consist of two documents, a living will and Durable Power of Attorney for Healthcare.

In addition to the HIPAA provisions in your Advance Health Care Directives, here is a list of steps you can take to further protect medical records and make it easier for a family member or other agent to have access to your health information if needed:

1. Contact each of your doctors, dentists, hospitals and health care provider(s) that you currently work with and ask them for any form they require to authorize release of your information and complete it with the list of agents in your Health Care Power of Attorney.
2. Keep these authorizations updated if you update your Power of Attorney.
3. Make sure your complete list of agents is included on the authorizations.
4. Show the documents you have, such as Durable Power of Attorney, HIPAA amendments, etc. to your doctors and health care providers, etc. to find out whether it will be accepted.

These estate planning documents are state specific. If you spend a lot of time in another state, you may want to have prepared and execute a durable power of attorney, living will and durable power of attorney for health care for the other state as well.

Related posts:

1. When to Review Your Living Trust