If you’re hospitalized and want a visit from your pastor, you can’t expect medical personnel to take care of letting him know anymore.

That’s the upshot of part of a new federal law known as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), which makes it illegal for healthcare providers to release information about a patient’s condition without consent—and threatens violators of the law with expensive fines. No longer are hospitals able to inform “just anyone” how a particular patient is doing. In fact, in some cases they won’t even confirm or deny that an individual has been admitted.

This new law has a significant impact on pastors and their members. Unless a patient personally informs his pastor—or at least makes sure that a friend or family member does—he might never know anything about that member’s condition. Also, if a friend tells your pastor, “Jane was admitted to Community General the other day—you should go visit her,” there might still be problems. If the pastor calls Community General and the patient has no request that he be informed on file, he will quite likely not be told anything.

There have been instances already where a pastor calling about his member has been told, “Mr. Smith is no longer a patient here,” and the pastor assumed that Mr. Smith has been released. The pastor tries to get a hold of Mr. Smith elsewhere, but is unsuccessful—only to find out that the hospital meant “Mr. Smith died.”

So, let your pastor know yourself or through a trusted intermediary if you are hospitalized. And, if the hospital asks you whom you want information shared with, don’t forget to list your pastor.

One other thing to keep in mind—it’s not always clear to a pastor what information about a member’s condition that member wants shared. I’ve always appreciated it when a member has said, “You can tell people this, but not that.”

This isn’t just a legal or logistical matter, but a spiritual one, too. Being able to share the comfort of the gospel of Jesus Christ with his people when they need it most is not just part of a pastor’s call, it’s also one of his privileges and greatest joys. And it’s not just pastors. As a community and the body of Christ, your brothers and sisters also have Christian love, support, and comfort that they will be happy to give. That’s what it means to be the family and flock of God.

Jeff Samelson