HIPAA Authorizations in Falling Water

Decide what access you want to provide

Start with the practical question: who should be able to receive health information, and what information should they be able to access? Consider whether you want to name one person, more than one recipient, or an alternate, and whether the intended access should cover a broad range of information or a narrower purpose.

Then consider duration. An authorization may be drafted with a time period or other limit in mind. Review the scope and duration together: broad access for a short period is different from limited access intended to last longer. The right balance depends on your preferences and circumstances.

Keep information access separate from healthcare authority

An authorization for sharing information is not the same as a healthcare power of attorney or advance directive. A separate authorization alone does not appoint a healthcare decision-maker. Conversely, state-law authority to make healthcare decisions can make someone a HIPAA personal representative; that person does not invariably need a separate HIPAA authorization.

These roles should be considered together, but not treated as interchangeable. A Tennessee advance directive addresses an agent or alternate and healthcare preferences. A HIPAA authorization focuses on information sharing. Review each document for the role it is intended to serve rather than assuming that one grants every kind of authority.

Prepare a recipient-and-access worksheet

Before discussing documents, make a short worksheet with four columns: recipient and alternate; information or purpose; desired scope; and intended duration or limit. Add a note about the people you do not want included, if that is relevant to your choices. This is a planning aid, not a substitute for the document itself.

Use the worksheet to compare choices. For example, you might want one person to have broader information access and another to receive information only for a defined purpose. That comparison can help identify whether a single authorization or different arrangements better match your intentions.

• List each intended recipient and any alternate.
• Describe the information access you want, including any limits.
• Note the duration or event that should end access, if desired.
• Gather existing healthcare powers of attorney, advance directives and authorizations for review.

Questions to resolve before signing

Ask whether the proposed authorization matches the people and boundaries on your worksheet, how its duration is expressed, and how it fits with your healthcare power of attorney or advance directive. Also ask how to share copies with the appropriate people and providers. Tennessee’s advance directive form includes instructions for signing and sharing copies; follow the instructions for the documents you use.

Dale Law Group, PLLC, led by Carolyn D. Dale, offers HIPAA authorization and related healthcare-planning services to clients in Tennessee. The firm’s office is in Murfreesboro; Falling Water is an unincorporated census-designated place in Hamilton County, not a separate city government. A local office in Falling Water is not represented.