POWER OF ATTORNEY AND/OR SKLAR POWER OF ATTORNEY

The standard General Power of Attorney will provide under the section "Grant of Authority" the following:

"To grant your agent some or all of the authority below, either (1) Initial the bracket at each authority you grant, or (2) Write or type the letters for each authority you grant on the blank line at (P), and initial the bracket at (P). If you initial (P), you do not need to initial the other lines. I grant authority to my agent(s) with respect to the following subjects as defined in sections 5-1502A through 5-1502N of the New York General Obligations Law:

..........

( ) (K) health care billing and payment matters; records, reports, and statements;

........."

Although HIPAA was intended to protect consumers, the law may be abused by agency or health provider or insurance staff as a way to obstruct the medical advocate of an individual access to  health information, or to refuse to provide even general information regarding agency practices.

The new Power of Attorney form in New York State contains a clause giving the agent the authority to examine, question, and pay medical bills on behalf of the principal, so long as the principal has executed a health care proxy.

In addition, it is possible to execute a POA exclusively for purposes of executing HIPAA releases, known as a "Sklar POA. See NY Public Health Law §18(1)(G)

UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE - HEARING AND APPEAL - REQUEST FOR HEARING - CASE NO. 3

Naturally, to obtain copies of the Claimant's medical records, I was required to have the Claimant sign a HIPAA Release. The NYS Courts website has an excellent form with instructions and a link to it is as follows:

HIPAA RELEASE