Why Do I Need to Sign HIPPA’s After a Truck Accident?

Truck accidents are no less than a nightmare! Insurance companies take advantage of your distress, by calling you up right after the accident, trying to get you to settle for much less than the case is worth.  Shortly after a truck accident, you may have very little pain, so you go home from the scene of the accident, hoping it’s nothing serious.  When the pain doesn’t go away, you seek medical treatment and legal assistance.  Accident attorneys in Queens and truck accident attorneys in NYC will ask you to sign many forms if they accept your case.  Some of these forms are called HIPPAS, and you might be wondering why you have to sign them.

What’s a HIPPA?

A HIPPA is a medical release form that serves many purposes for your personal injury case.  In order to prove that you were injured, and the extent of the injuries you’ve suffered, the insurance company and the defense attorneys will want to carefully examine your medical records.  The Federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) protects your privacy by requiring you to sign a release form before your medical records can be distributed anywhere.

Why Do I Have To Sign So Many HIPPA’s?

When your accident attorneys in Queens begin the process of gathering your medical records to review prior to negotiating a settlement, they will need to send a HIPPA to every medical provider that treated you.  If you are treating at a multi-specialty facility, this may be a very long list of physical therapists, chiropractors, pain management specialists, orthopedists, neurologists, podiatrists, etc.  Testing facilities will also require a truck accident attorney in NYC to send a HIPPA for EKG, MRI, Catscans, x-rays and other test results.  The hospital and ambulance will each require their own HIPPA, too.  The stack of HIPPA’s is getting pretty big, but the insurance company and/or the defense attorneys may want their own set of HIPPA’s so that they can request medical reports sent directly to them.  An additional HIPPA is needed by an insurance company for the release of your no-fault and or worker’s compensation file which contains medical information.

Hire Reputable Accident Attorneys

If you’ve been seriously injured in a car, truck or motorcycle accident, it’s important to contact reputable attorneys that have a long tradition of providing excellent service.  Wittenstein & Wittenstein are the accident attorneys in Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Manhattan, Staten Island and Long Island that people have been trusting for over 60 years.  Before you sign all those HIPPA’s, make sure you are trusting your medical records and your case to the best attorneys in NYC.