Coordinating care for your loved one
When you start caregiving, you quickly realize how much there is to coordinate—especially when the one you’re caring for has multiple medical conditions. There are appointments to arrange, tests and screenings to schedule, care plans to keep track of, and medications to manage.
It’s important to stay on top of the details. Here are 6 tips that may help.
1. Learn who's who on the medical team
Most people have a primary care provider (PCP)—the person who helps you manage your overall health. When people have chronic health conditions or other medical issues, more providers may be involved.
When you think about who is—or may become—part of your loved one’s care team, keep all these health care professionals in mind:
- Doctors, including specialists
- Nurse practitioners
- Physician assistants
- In-home care workers/personal care attendants
- Long-term care staff
- Social workers
- Pharmacists
- Physical and occupational therapists
2. Figure out what medical information you can access
Some caregivers can be successful armed with a basic understanding of their loved one’s health. Others need all the details, in order to provide the right support and make sure their loved ones understand what’s happening. Either way, to gain access to someone’s medical information, permission is required.
If your loved one agrees to have you sit in on a medical appointment, they can tell the provider that it’s ok for you to be there. They can also say that it’s ok to share certain information with you later. This is called verbal consent.
Sharing personal health information (PHI), such as medical records and health insurance information, requires written permission. PHI is protected by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which regulates how it’s used or shared.
Each provider’s office needs a signed HIPAA form in order to share PHI. Your loved one’s health insurance company also needs documentation of permission to share information with you. With that legal permission, you can get authorization to use the patient portal or send in written requests for the information you need.
3. Take notes
Whenever you talk to a health care provider, take notes—the more detailed the better. It’ll help you understand what’s happening and why. And you can reference them later if needed. Be sure to include:
- Date and time
- Who you talked to
- What was discussed
- Next steps or actions to be taken
- Any medication changes
- When to follow up
4. Keep lists
It’s also helpful to keep lists of the following:
- Medical providers, including names, specialties, and contact information
- Current health conditions and known allergies
- Medications—prescription and over-the-counter—and supplements, including names, purposes, dosages, timings, potential side effects, and what to do if a dose is missed or taken improperly
- Daily routines, such as bathing, dressing, and mealtimes
- Emergency contacts and how to reach them, in case you need help
5. Stay organized
Gathering all the information that’s referenced above is one thing. Being able to access it where and when you need to is another.
Options vary, from physical notebooks, file folders, and calendars to digital apps on your computer or smart phone. Choose what works for you. Stick to your system and make sure you can share it with others if needed.
6. When it comes to communication, take the lead
Ideally, all your loved one’s medical providers have access to the same electronic health records (EHRs), which include information such as test results, diagnoses, treatment plans, prescriptions, radiology reports, and clinical notes. If they do, they can see the full picture of your loved one’s health and work as a team to make recommendations for care.
Unfortunately, that’s not usually how it happens. You can’t be sure that EHRs are being shared. And even providers in the same medical group and the hospitals they’re associated with may not be talking with each other.
As you talk to various health care providers, ask them if they’re communicating with each other or the PCP. Ask often. This will help with:
- Getting consistency in care
- Reducing or avoiding errors
- Making it easier to address any issues or changes
Originally posted: September 2017
Last updated: May 2025
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Coordinating care
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