If it has been at least one (1) year since you signed your Advance Directive and Durable Power of Attorney chances are that your documents do not take into account the "Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act" (commonly referred to as "HIPPA").

HIPPA is legislation that resulted because Congress was concerned about the wrongful dissemination of personal health care information by health care providers, health plans, public health authorities, employers, life insurance companies, schools and universities, etc. to unauthorized third parties. It is important to keep in mind that HIPPA is designed to be broad in scope. Therefore, the definition of what is "health care information" and who is a "health care provider" encompass situations that do not fit into traditional notions of what is "health care information" and who is a "health care provider." For example, the past, present or future payment for the provision of health care to an individual constitutes "health care information" under HIPPA. Moreover, HIPPA imposes severe penalties for the unauthorized disclosure of health care information by health care providers (in some cases up to $250,000 per violation).

Under HIPPA, Health Care Providers cannot release your protected health care information to third parties unless they have a valid authorization from you to do so. This means that if you become incapacitated your "Health Care Surrogate" under your Advance Directive or your "Attorney-in-Fact" under your Durable Power of Attorney will not be able to obtain your protected health information unless your Advance Care Directive and Durable Power of Attorney contain a valid authorization under HIPPA that will allow them to receive your health care information. As you can probably tell, not allowing your Health Care Surrogate or Attorney-in-Fact to have access to your protected health information may severely restrict their functions during a time of crisis.

If your Advance Care Directive and Durable Power of Attorney are not HIPPA compliant, we can easily update your documents so that your Health Care Surrogate and Attorney-in-Fact are authorized to receive your health care information under HIPPA. If you are not sure if your documents are HIPPA compliant, contact us and we will let you know if your documents need to be updated.