Thank you HIPAA!!

[Hamhock]

I called our pharmacy to request a transcript of all the drugs we've bought this year to turn in for reimbursement under my flex plan.

Dude says, due to privacy laws, I can pick up the transcripts for me & the kids, but I can't pick up my wife's and she can't pick up mine.

Unfreaking believable.

[StoopTroup]

Tell them your her legal guardian and that she can't come get it.

[Scott D]

why blame hipaa? you should go farther and blame divorce lawyers, and unscrupulous ex-spouses for the law being the way it is. then go even farther and blame identity thieves.

I mean, really...there is so much blame to go around on that one.

[r5TPsooner]

I called our pharmacy to request a transcript of all the drugs we've bought this year to turn in for reimbursement under my flex plan.

Dude says, due to privacy laws, I can pick up the transcripts for me & the kids, but I can't pick up my wife's and she can't pick up mine.

Unfreaking believable.

There is a special form where you can designate one person in your family to take care of stuff like this.

[SCOUT]

There is a special form where you can designate one person in your family to take care of stuff like this.

Ask your pharmacy for a HIPAA waiver or authorization to disclose health information form. It is usually just a paragraph and a place for your wife to deisgnate you and for her to sign.

You can do the same thing for your Dr. if you think you will need that information at some point.

Scott is right though, HIPAA is far from the only problem. Like most government initiatives, it sounds like a good idea. People who don't have your permission can't see your medical information (There is more to HIPAA but in this context...). In practice it doesn't always work so smoothly.

[OUDoc]

Yup! :)

[Scott D]

I blame OUDoc for selling my medical information to those Nigerian guys who email me every day trying to get me to deposit their money in my bank.