This episode topic discusses the importance of a HIPAA Release and comes by request from someone within the Take Good Care community app. It's an app I created for patients and caregivers who are navigating critical or chronic illness.

So, if you're a patient or caregiver, you would find support, education and a place where you can build community with people who get you, people who understand your plight and the challenges that you face every day as a patient or caregiver.

For the purposes of this conversation, we don't focus on HIPAA law (but I have provided a link to a resource with information about HIPAA and its lawful intent).

Instead, we focus more on a user-friendly approach, informing patients and caregivers about the use of a HIPPA Release, its importance as a communication tool in our healthcare, how to go about deciding whom we name on the Release, and how we disseminate our medical information during a health crisis.

On this episode, we discuss:

• 01:10: the definition of HIPAA.
• 01:43: the difference between a Medical Power of Attorney and a HIPAA Release.
• 02:55: how to choose who is named as the primary and secondary communicator on the HIPAA Release.
• 04:00: examples of the volley between the patient, caregiver, and communicator.
• 07:50: how to decide who disseminates medical information, how the information is shared, and how to avoid miscommunication by having a designated person gather information from providers and share it with loved ones.
• 10:35: the doctor's discretion in deciding with whom medical information is shared and how much information is given.
• 13:14: why it's important to keep a copy of your HIPAA Release.

Resource: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa

The podcast is an extension of the Take Good Care community app and the Empathetic Healthcare Practices™ Course. Download the app at the Apple Store or the Google Play Store and learn more about the Course at www.lisa-bradshaw.com.