Caregivers Should Be On Patient's Records
10/24/2013
Caregivers on Patient's Records:
Reduce Confusion. Increase Care. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) privacy laws prevent medical practitioners, insurers and basically any entity with access to a patient’s personal health information (patient's records) from sharing that information with anyone other than the patient — even a spouse — without specific written authorization. Doctors and other health care professionals can share medical information with family caregivers or others directly involved with a patient’s care, but only if the proper form is filled out. But often times there’s more than one caregiver or the patient is too ill to give consent or there is some other confusion and family caregivers can’t access the health information for their senior loved one. Information they need to properly provide care. A solution to this problem is to get healthcare providers to make an official place in patient's records to document the roles of caregivers. A family caregiver is someone who takes care of a person who has a chronic or serious illness or disability. The caregiver can be a family member, friend, partner, or someone else close to the patient. He or she does not need to live with the patient. Family caregivers need medical information so they can better manage and provide care for the patient. For example, they need to know what medical problem the person is being treated for. They need to know the names of the medicines the doctor orders, why the doctor thinks the patient needs them, and what side effects to look out for. According to medcitynews.com, until there is a place on patient's records to document who is a family caregiver, who has a family caregiver, and what their role is:- American Healthcare will not be able to truly alter the way it provides care for those with chronic conditions
- Family caregivers will continue to be relegated to the category of nuisance rather than taking their rightful place on their care recipient’s health care team, one who has intimate knowledge of the patient that is not available to any other team member
- There will be no mandate for providing family caregivers with the education, training, and support they need to both be a more confident and capable care provider. A responsible steward of their own health.
- There will be the lost opportunity for research on the impact family caregivers have on their loved one’s health and well-being, healthcare costs, the value of different educational and supportive interventions, and caregivers’ own health behaviors.