Wiki Age of consent for medical care

[JesseL]

We had a new front staff that kind of screwed up.

We had a patient who was 16 years old and came with her grandmother.

The patient signed all the documents such as hipaa and financial responsibility, etc.

Her grandmother signed none of those things.

I did not find out until I billed her insurance and it resulted in a deductible.

Can I still bill her?

We're in New York and I believe the age of consent is 18 and up.

 

[thomas7331]

Unfortunately, you cannot undo mistakes like this by simply not billing the patient. This is something of a legal question and a coding forum is not the right place to be to be giving or receiving legal advice. Since this could have potentially have liability implications for practice, and because determining the correct remedy could involve many factors (e.g. state laws, the grandmother's status as a guardian, whether or not she was present in the room during the visit, the types of treatments that took place), I would recommend putting the bill on hold and referring this as an incident to your practice manager or compliance officer so that they can research the specifics of the situation, obtain legal advice if necessary, and give you the correct guidance.