What documents do I need to help my parent with medical decisions and Medicare claims?

Scope, time frame are flexible. A HIPAA release can allow access to all of a patient’s medical records with a provider or narrow it to certain information. The timing can vary, too, to allow access to past, present and future records or just limit access to a specific medical event.

Patients can notify their health care providers, preferably in writing, to revoke the authorization at any time. Private insurance companies have similar forms that provide a caregiver or family member access to information about insurance claims.

Obtaining a form. You usually can get a HIPAA authorization form from a doctor, hospital or other provider. Or you can get one from an elder law attorney along with health care proxy documents.

What is a Medicare authorization form?

Medicare’s Authorization to Disclose Personal Information gives you authority to speak to Medicare on someone else’s behalf. Even if you have a health care proxy to make medical decisions for your parent, you’ll still need a separate Medicare authorization form to talk with Medicare about claims, eligibility, enrollment, premiums and payments to providers.

Your parent will need to identify when and how long to allow Medicare to disclose personal health information, whether for a specific procedure or indefinitely. As with a HIPAA authorization, your parent can write to Medicare at any time to revoke the sharing of information with you.

Patients can print the form from the Medicare.gov website and mail it to the address listed. If they have an online Medicare account, they can log in, go to the My Accounts section and click on Manage my representatives.

Keep in mind

While these forms give you authority to help with medical decisions, you’ll need separate legal documents to help with financial decisions. A durable power of attorney gives a trusted person legal authority to make financial decisions and access bank accounts to help pay bills.

Power of attorney requirements vary by state. Some people choose to have an elder law attorney draft their power of attorney. And you may need a separate power of attorney document to work with some financial institutions.

Having these documents in place while the person you’re caring for can still make decisions is a good idea, especially for someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s disease because the condition is likely to worsen. If your loved one becomes unable to sign financial and legal forms, your only recourse may be to go to court and be declared the person’s guardian.