If a patients family members call to ask how their loved one is doing, what can the treating physician disclose?
This depends on whether the person calling has a role in taking care of the patient and whether the physician believes, in his/her professional judgment, release of the patient’s information is in the patient’s interest and relates to the person’s involvement in the patient’s care. The Privacy Rules allow a physician to share a patient’s information with the patient’s family member or friend so long as the information is limited to information directly relevant to that person’s involvement in the patient’s care. For example, a physician may tell a person living with the patient that the patient needs plenty of rest and lots of fluids or that the patient needs to take a prescribed medication twice daily with food. The physician should not share more information than the person needs to assist with the patient’s care. A physician should not share a patient’s information with the patient’s family or friends if the patient has asked the physician not to or if the physician believes, in his
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