What “consent” usually covers—and what it doesn’t
When you walk into a clinic, hospital, or imaging center, you often sign a consent or “patient authorization” form. Many people assume it’s granting permission for everything, but that’s rarely true. Under HIPAA:
Providers can share your records with other providers for treatment (say, referral to a specialist) without extra authorization.
Insurers can receive information for payment, e.g. to settle claims.
Health systems can use data for operations (quality assurance, audits, internal analytics).
So your signature is often more a formality, a way to tell you what’s happening, rather than a novel permission.
Listen to this episode with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Cybersecurity News by Jose Bolanos MD to listen to this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.
