HIPAA Amendments to Estate Planning Docs Necc'y?

[Christine Roberts]

Any information out there as to whether estate planning documents, such as Powers of Attorney, Living Wills, Revocable Living trusts, and Medical Directives need to be amended for HIPAA (to authorize disclosure of PHI)? I am seeing commentary out there that previously-executed and new documents of these types must take HIPAA requirements into account, or will be "rendered useless."

[Steve72]

I'm not sure where it is in the pramble, but I have been assured by HHS reps that the estate representative is considered to be the individual for purposes of HIPAA. Therefore, the estate representative could receive PHI from any covered entity, and could execute authorizations on behalf of the individual.

I don't know if this answers your question precisely, but I thought it might be helpful.

[Jbentz]

As a provider, we accept these as documents, as long as healthcare is included. We accept them under the personal representative clause under HIPAA and we only require that we have a copy in the patient's files.