Girl standing triumphantly by a lake surrounded by mountains
Home » About HIPAA for Caregivers » Advocating to Include Caregivers on Care Teams

Advocating to Include Caregivers on Care Teams

HIPAA for Caregivers has mental health advocacy goals.  Doctors should be able to talk with the families of their mental health patients.  That is, they should feel free to share information with caregivers as long as they believe it is in the patient’s best interest.  Our main advocacy tools are currently our website articles and our opinions written for government agencies.  We use them in advocating to include caregivers on care teams.

Striving towards a brighter future

When opportunities arise, we respond to government calls to address potential changes to HIPAA.  An example is shown in the section below – Advocating to Include Caregivers.  Ultimately, we would like to see the Privacy Rule name caregivers as part of health care teams.

Purple heart-shaped flower pointing at the word "Advocate"

Advocating to Include Caregivers

Comments for the United States Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) on Proposed Modifications to the HIPAA Privacy Rule

May 3, 2021

HIPAA for Caregivers submitted its comments to HHS’s Notice of Proposed Rule Making.  In it, we asked HHS to:

  • First, replace two phrases in HIPAA so that it will be easier for doctors to talk with the families of mental health patients.
  • Second, allow doctors to talk with caregivers, even without permission from the patients, any time they believe it is in the best interest of the patient.
  • Third, add language that clearly includes caregivers as part of the care coordination team.