Urgent Care- Unauthorized Pregnancy Test

[Anonymous]

I want to premise my question with saying that DD plans to talk to the billing department today. My question is more related to whether or not this is standard practice....or just a money grab. I think it's the latter.

DD (just graduated college, now out of state) went to urgent care for gastro issues. Was handed a cup for urine test. DD asked what the purpose of the urine test was, aid responded "it's just routine stuff". DD gets her urgent care bill and there's a charge on the bill for $37 for a pregnancy test which she did not ask for, nor authorize. Is this standard practice? I would think that something like a pregnancy test would have to be authorized by the patient. DD answered all of the questions on the intake form including "is there a chance you might be pregnant?", she answered "No". Sounds to me like an easy way for clinics and doctors to make money, hoping that most patients don't look at their bills or perhaps overlook it thinking it's standard procedure.

[Anonymous]

It doesn't seem crazy to me that for gastro issues they need to rule out pregnancy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't seem crazy to me that for gastro issues they need to rule out pregnancy

Have to agree here.

[Anonymous]

I posted something very similar recently. I went for a UTI and they didn't say a word about running a pregnancy test. If they had asked I would have told them it was logistically impossible for me to be pregnant (no sex recently) so I was really annoyed to get a bill for it.

[Anonymous]

They also need to rule out pregnancy in order to prescribe certain medications and tests.

Also patients lie allllllll the time, OP.

[Anonymous]

i work in insurance and am generally skeptical of provider billing. that said, this seems fine. people often lie about pregnancy or say no because they used a condom or something.
if it's a pregnancy complication, it can be life threatening and given her age and symptoms, i think medically they were almost required to rule it out.

i wouldn't argue it to be honest.

[Anonymous]

I recently had surgery and was told they would need to give me a pregnancy test. I had my tubes cut years ago, but it's just standard practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't seem crazy to me that for gastro issues they need to rule out pregnancy

Have to agree here.

Then they should have had a discussion with the patient. If the patient hasn't had sex in a year, you can rule out pregnancy. You don't get to just run whatever test you want, particularly when the patient specifically asked.

[Anonymous]

OP here - Thank you. Seems like everyone is in agreement that this is standard practice. Appreciate all of the quick replies!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't seem crazy to me that for gastro issues they need to rule out pregnancy

Have to agree here.

Then they should have had a discussion with the patient. If the patient hasn't had sex in a year, you can rule out pregnancy. You don't get to just run whatever test you want, particularly when the patient specifically asked.

But the patient will lie. And the doctor gets sued for harming a baby he didn’t know was on there.

[Anonymous]

Ruling out pregnancy seems pretty routine in this context.
I think HIV and other STDs require explicit permission to test, but not pregnancy. Lots of people become pregnant without knowing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I recently had surgery and was told they would need to give me a pregnancy test. I had my tubes cut years ago, but it's just standard practice.

See now this sounds like a money grab to me. Seems like a waiver of some kind should be included where if you answer NO, and you are pregnant that you release all liability with that particular practitioner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't seem crazy to me that for gastro issues they need to rule out pregnancy

Have to agree here.

Then they should have had a discussion with the patient. If the patient hasn't had sex in a year, you can rule out pregnancy. You don't get to just run whatever test you want, particularly when the patient specifically asked.

But the patient will lie. And the doctor gets sued for harming a baby he didn’t know was on there.

If they absolutely need to run a pregnancy test, then when the patient asked, they should have said that they need to run the following tests: A, B, C, D.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I want to premise my question with saying that DD plans to talk to the billing department today. My question is more related to whether or not this is standard practice....or just a money grab. I think it's the latter.

DD (just graduated college, now out of state) went to urgent care for gastro issues. Was handed a cup for urine test. DD asked what the purpose of the urine test was, aid responded "it's just routine stuff". DD gets her urgent care bill and there's a charge on the bill for $37 for a pregnancy test which she did not ask for, nor authorize. Is this standard practice? I would think that something like a pregnancy test would have to be authorized by the patient. DD answered all of the questions on the intake form including "is there a chance you might be pregnant?", she answered "No". Sounds to me like an easy way for clinics and doctors to make money, hoping that most patients don't look at their bills or perhaps overlook it thinking it's standard procedure.

The routine reason to test a cup of pee from a woman over 13 is pregnancy test. Are you a man, to not know this? There's always a pregnancy test. You don't have to authorize them to give you a pregnancy test and they likely cannot treat you effectively without it, because many medications are contraindicated for pregnancy.

When I was in high school if you rolled your ankle in basketball practice the trainer would give you a pregnancy test.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It doesn't seem crazy to me that for gastro issues they need to rule out pregnancy

Have to agree here.

Then they should have had a discussion with the patient. If the patient hasn't had sex in a year, you can rule out pregnancy. You don't get to just run whatever test you want, particularly when the patient specifically asked.

But the patient will lie. And the doctor gets sued for harming a baby he didn’t know was on there.

If you take your car into the shop and the mechanic asks when you last changed the oil and you say yesterday, they don't get to change it again and charge you. They ran a test that they profited off of in the basis that the patient was lying. I would dispute the bill and if pushed I would complain to the state board about unauthorized tests