Parents who sent their children off to college this fall may not be aware that in the event of a medical emergency, health care professionals are not allowed to contact parents if their child is over 18 years old. This is what happened to Jody Helfend, co-founder of AMD Card. “We learned that our son was hospitalized when we got the medical bill,” he said. After the ordeal, Helfend founded his Calabasas-based company with wife Ivette to provide advanced medical directive cards to give health care power of attorney to a designated person. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, widely known as HIPPA, established a set of guidelines to ensure the privacy and security of an individual’s health information. As a result, when a patient is admitted to a hospital, the staff is not allowed to disclose any information about the patient over the phone to the patient’s relatives. “It’s an inadvertent gap left by HIPPA,” said Helfend. “If they (hospitals) are in violation of HIPPA, they can be sued.” Helfend said he wanted to find a solution for those who may want their loved ones contacted, and give family members the right to make medical decisions if patients are incapacitated. The AMD card is similar to a typical identification card. The card gives health care professionals legal permission to contact a designated person, whose information is found on the back of the card. It also gives legally enforceable health care power of attorney to that designated person in case medical decisions for the patient need to be made. Helfend said the wallet-sized card should be carried at all times. Health responders are trained to look for personally identifiable information of an unconscious patient they are treating, he said. “It’s about portability and accessibility to legal permission,” Helfend added. To market the card, AMD recently launched a strategic partnership with The JED Foundation, which works to prevent suicides among college and university students, to be part of the identification protocol workshops at colleges. Furthermore, its medical advisor Dr. Fred Dennis is working on a way to educate paramedics and local hospitals to look for AMD cards on patients. To obtain the card, customers log into the company’s website and fill out the relevant information. Once the form is completed, it will be notarized and all relevant documents will be delivered electronically. The customer will receive a physical card in the mail for $125 a year. According to Helfend the AMD card is enforceable in all 50 states, and features an online database registry where health care professionals can access digitized copies of the notarized documents. “It’s all about peace of mind and empowering families with legal permission to be contacted by medical personal in case of emergency,” he said. – Iris Lee