This episode topic discusses the importance of a HIPAA Release and comes by request from someone within the Take Good Care community app. It's an app I created for patients and caregivers who are navigating critical or chronic illness.

So, if you're a patient or caregiver, you would find support, education and a place where you can build community with people who get you, people who understand your plight and the challenges that you face every day as a patient or caregiver.

For the purposes of this conversation, we don't focus on HIPAA law (but I have provided a link to a resource with information about HIPAA and its lawful intent).

Instead, we focus more on a user-friendly approach, informing patients and caregivers about the use of a HIPPA Release, its importance as a communication tool in our healthcare, how to go about deciding whom we name on the Release, and how we disseminate our medical information during a health crisis.

On this episode, we discuss:

• 01:10: the definition of HIPAA.
• 01:43: the difference between a Medical Power of Attorney and a HIPAA Release.
• 02:55: how to choose who is named as the primary and secondary communicator on the HIPAA Release.
• 04:00: examples of the volley between the patient, caregiver, and communicator.
• 07:50: how to decide who disseminates medical information, how the information is shared, and how to avoid miscommunication by having a designated person gather information from providers and share it with loved ones.
• 10:35: the doctor's discretion in deciding with whom medical information is shared and how much information is given.
• 13:14: why it's important to keep a copy of your HIPAA Release.

Resource: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa

The podcast is an extension of the Take Good Care community app and the Empathetic Healthcare Practices™ Course. Download the app at the Apple Store or the Google Play Store and learn more about the Course at www.lisa-bradshaw.com.

Kim and Doug Bianchi and I happen to live in the same community, and we're friends. They are the owners of a lovely, small vineyard, and literally, from the onset of Doug's mysterious illness, this community and their friends showed up at the vineyard to work without even knowing what needed to be done after Doug woke up one morning paralyzed from the waist down.

No one can prepare for something so unexpected.

Doug admits he has a hard time asking for help, as so many of us do, but perhaps one of the lessons we learn from a health crisis is how to give and receive help, how to build community.

We discuss community, the give and take necessary during a health crisis, and the lessons learned about ourselves and the people surrounding us.

On this episode, we discuss:

:03: how to give and receive help during a health crisis

2:23: asking for help during a healthcare emergency

4:25: the impact of 'dis-ease'

6:20: the connection between 'dis-ease' and our mental state

8:30: the impact of mindset during illness

12:12: the power of community during a health crisis

15:29: the shock during the onset of a health crisis

17:24: the line between caregiver and spouse/life partner

The podcast is an extension of the Take Good Care community app and the Empathetic Healthcare Practices™ Course. Download the app at the Apple Store or the Google Play Store and learn more about the Course at www.lisa-bradshaw.com.

If you're a patient or caregiver who is amid a critical or chronic illness, you may have found yourself hospitalized in a facility that lacked the option for specialty care providers, like cardiologists (heart doctors) or oncologists (cancer doctors).

If you have a speciality care provider, or more than one specialty care provider, do you know at which hospital(s) in your area they hold privileges to practice medicine?

Have you discussed these details with your primary or speciality care providers in the event you require hospitalization and have the option to choose where you are hospitalized?

Brooke Taylor has worked as a physician assistant in emergency medicine for the majority of her career. On today's episode, we discuss the importance of knowing ahead of time where your primary and/or speciality care providers hold hospital privileges and the importance of understanding when and if you have a choice between specific hospitals.

We'll help clear up any confusion by providing examples that apply to this topic. To be clear, we are not encouraging you to buck the system and drive yourself 30 minutes away from the closest hospital during a medical emergency just because your speciality provider doesn't have medical privileges there.

If you are experiencing a medical emergency, call 911.

On this episode, we'll discuss:

:08: the importance of responding to the for need emergency care

2:22: the difference between emergent care and urgent care

3:22: how continuity of care begins with primary care

6:22: chronic issues in a hospital setting

8:20: an example of emergent/urgent care decision-making

11:05: having a succinct understanding of patient need in urgent decision-making

13:48: utilizing primary and specialty care to help prevent healthcare escalations

14:20: how hopping providers can interfere with continuity of care

16:45: roles of primary and specialty care

17:39: communication between primary and speciality care providers

18:47: how hopping emergent and urgent care facilities can interfere with continuity of care

22:04: obtaining and utilizing your medical records to assist in continuity of care

23:44: the most helpful and effective steps you can take toward receiving continuity of care in most settings

The podcast is an extension of the Take Good Care community app and the Empathetic Healthcare Practices™ Course. Download the app at the Apple Store or the Google Play Store and learn more about the Course at www.lisa-bradshaw.com.