Some quick tips for your next doctor visit:

1. Have an Authorization To Release Medical Information Form

Make sure your parent has signed a consent form giving his doctors permission to share medical information with you, under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Keep it on file with primary care physicians, dentists, rehab centers, adult day care centers and physical therapy offices.

2. Don’t Forget Medicare

Medicare also requires a form on file before they will discuss a claim with a family member or caregiver. Visit the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services site to download the required form.

3. Have Contact Information Available Before You Need It

Little emergencies are seldom convenient. What do you do when your elderly parent needs to see a doctor after office hours? And what if your car is having an emergency of its own?

Make sure your cell phone contains the phone numbers of your parent’s doctors, local hospitals, and urgent care centers as well as taxi services and other public transportation.

4. A Way Around Lengthy New-Patient Forms

Avoid this headache. Carry your loved one’s health history with you to doctor visits. Have a list of current medications, allergies, and medical conditions, as well as previous surgeries, other hospitalizations and so on.

Get MyFastTrack® Organizer – the easy way to maintain health history information on a home computer.

5. Keep Medical Information Up to Date

Discussions with doctors are easier when you are organized. Carry health records to appointments and add to them as you learn new information.

Get organized now to save big on time and aggravation later.

If your elderly parent has a car accident, will EMTs have information to help?  Will ER staff be aware of medications, medical conditions, and allergies?

Not knowing someone’s health history can and does result in unneeded testing, drugs that would not otherwise be prescribed and DANGEROUS medical mistakes. 

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reports NEARLY HALF of all medical malpractice deaths can be traced to errors occurring in emergency rooms.   

One way to help protect your elderly parent is to keep his health history up to date and available. If you’ve been looking for a simple, no-hassle software solution, consider
 MyFastTrack® Organizer. It’s the ideal way to organize and maintain someone’s health records.

MyFastTrack® Organizer’s pre-formatted Word forms and Excel spreadsheets help you put together a health history for your loved one fast. Keep a flash drive or a 3-ring binder in his car. Reference it on a card he can carry in wallet.

Details at http://www.myfasttrackbooks.com/healthhistory.asp