Can an Adult Child Access a Parent's Medical Records in Arkansas

You call your parent's doctor to ask about their latest blood work results, and the receptionist says they cannot share any information with you. Your parent is right there in the next room — but without proper authorization on file, HIPAA prevents the practice from telling you anything.

This is the most common administrative wall adult children hit when managing an aging parent's care. The fix is straightforward, but it requires the right paperwork filed with every provider.

Why You're Being Blocked

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a federal privacy law that restricts healthcare providers from sharing a patient's medical information with anyone — including family members — without the patient's explicit written authorization.

Being your parent's child, living with them, paying their bills, and driving them to every appointment changes nothing from a legal standpoint. Without documented authorization, the provider is following federal law by refusing your request.

Three Ways to Get Access

Option 1: HIPAA Authorization Form. The simplest path. Your parent signs a standalone HIPAA release form that specifically names you as an authorized recipient of their medical information. This form goes to every provider — the primary care physician, specialists, the hospital, the pharmacy, the imaging center. Each provider keeps their own copy.

The HIPAA authorization does not give you decision-making power. It only allows providers to share information with you — test results, diagnoses, treatment plans, appointment notes. It is an information access tool, not a legal authority document.

Option 2: Healthcare Power of Attorney. An Arkansas healthcare power of attorney (part of the Advance Care Plan) designates you as your parent's healthcare agent. Under Arkansas Code § 20-6-103, the agent has full authority to access medical records, communicate with providers, and make medical decisions — but this authority only activates when a physician determines the parent lacks capacity, unless the document specifies otherwise.

For ongoing care coordination while the parent is still competent, the standalone HIPAA authorization is more practical because it works immediately without any capacity determination.

Option 3: After capacity is lost. If your parent has already lost capacity and no HIPAA authorization or healthcare POA exists, you need either a court-appointed guardianship or to invoke Arkansas's default statutory surrogacy rules. The statutory surrogacy allows physicians to consult a spouse, then adult children, for immediate medical decisions — but it is temporary, limited, and does not provide broad medical records access.

The Physical Signature Problem

What if your parent is physically unable to sign the form — arthritic hands, post-stroke paralysis, or severe tremor? Arkansas law accounts for this. If the parent is mentally competent but physically unable to sign, they can direct another adult to sign the document on their behalf in their presence. A notary public can facilitate and attest to this process.

File With Every Provider

The most common mistake families make is getting the HIPAA authorization signed and then filing it with only one provider. Medical information is siloed — your parent's cardiologist, primary care physician, rehabilitation facility, and hospital all maintain separate records systems.

File the authorization with:

• Every physician who treats your parent
• The local hospital (both the medical records department and the emergency department)
• Any rehabilitation or skilled nursing facilities
• The pharmacy
• Labs and imaging centers
• Home health agencies

Each facility needs its own copy on file. A signed authorization sitting in the primary care doctor's office does not give the hospital permission to share information with you.

The Broader Authority System

HIPAA authorization solves the information access problem, but managing an aging parent's care in Arkansas typically requires a complete set of legal documents:

• HIPAA authorization — information access with all healthcare providers
• Healthcare power of attorney — medical decision-making authority when the parent cannot decide
• Durable financial power of attorney — authority over bank accounts, property, insurance, and government benefits
• Medicaid authorized representative (DCO-153) — ability to communicate with DHS about benefits applications

The Arkansas Power of Attorney & Guardianship Kit for Aging Parents covers all four components — including the HIPAA authorization, healthcare directive, financial POA, and Medicaid representative designation.

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