Urgent Care- Unauthorized Pregnancy Test

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At this point *I* will pay the $37 if OP agrees to stop going on about it.

LOL, right?

Also, the issue should be WHY IS A SIMPLE PREGNANCY TEST THIRTY-SEVEN DOLLARS?

Because you're paying the overhead of the doctor you're seeing who orders it, the MA to run it, and the back office lab to remain certified.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

+1 Some of you didn't watch that episode of the Office when Pam and Jim found out that she was pregnant after an injury during the company picnic volleyball game and it shows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

A $38 money grab?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have said no to peeing in a cup at the primary care, the ob/gyn yearly visit and at urgent care in the past. I don't have a uterus anymore. Unless they can clearly explain what they are testing for and why, I'm not peeing in a cup.

It's standard and for obvious reasons, but can be a mindless exercise. If every woman who goes in to a yearly ob/gyn visit gets an extra $40 test, wow, that's a good deal for a dipstick that costs 30cents for the provider.

Bottom line: Ask and get informed consent. If you didn't call them on it.

I think it's totally normal to decline that test at your yearly or at your OBGYN, since they have your medical records that you have no uterus. But the rando at urgent care doesn't know that. Also it means you're declining a routine urine screen which can check for other problems like glucose, protein, or even STDs (even though your husband or wife WOULD NEVER CHEAT!!!) so the doctor can't really take care of you to the best of his or her ability, which is why a doctor might fire a patient over refusal to comply with basic noninvasive screenings, but you do you.

[Anonymous]

The real question is why isn't the standard pregnancy test covered by insurance so we never see a bill. PINK TAX.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD22 was in and out of ER and urgent cares with gastrointestinal and menstrual issues over the course of two years. She got a pregnancy test run every time.

(Ended up with endometriosis diagnosis)

Please read what I wrote - The pregnancy test itself is not the issue, it is the lack of it being done without her knowledge. She should at least have the right to consent or decline. She would have consented of course, but should she not be allowed to have that right to decline? And she only found out about the test being run when she got her bill. It is an issue of rights, consent and principle.

I will try to explain this very simply.

Your daughter consented to the "usual" urine tests.
A pregnancy test is considered to be one of the "usual" tests for a female patient suffering from abdominal pain.
Therefore, your daughter consented to the pregnancy test.

If you don't understand that after all this time, I'm not sure there's any purpose continuing this discussion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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

Also patients lie allllllll the time, OP.

Yes. NP.

I'm a pediatrician and have diagnosed pregnancy in a couple dozen teenagers -- who deny any sexual activity at all -- in clinic and the ED. You'd think it would be more rare, but it's more common than you think.

OP here. Yes I understand this. But DD is not denying being sexually active, she's 22 for christ sake. This is not what I'm hung up on at all. My point is she was not informed, and did not consent. And on her bill there is separate charge for the test, which to me means it's an "add on". Perhaps I am wrong, which is why I came here to ask. Also, I do not get copies of the itemized bills with our claims, so this is a bill DD chose to show me because it's an additional $37 she now has to pay and was annoyed as she's on a tight budget and didn't request the test.

It appears as a separate charge because it isn't administered to men, thus it's not part of any other panel of tests that they routinely run.

[Anonymous]

So OP is mad because it came back positive and her DD got kicked out of Liberty U?

[Anonymous]

Did you know that for a male (especially a teenage male), who presents mainly with abdominal pain and/or vomiting, you're supposed to do a quick testicular exam to assess for testicular torsion? Don't worry, it's not just girls that get made uncomfortable during exams! You can imagine the horror on many a teenage boy's face when I say I need to check in his underwear when he's come in for nausea and vomiting. I'm sure those guys wish they could just pee in a cup instead.