Posted by Dinah on August 30, 2003, at 17:11:40
I may be looking for a new pdoc, and my therapist has mentioned that he is newly listed under some insurance plans. I may ask him about mine.
But honestly the idea scares me senseless. I've already gotten a nice little letter from my insurance company saying that "We have noted from your claims that you have been diagnosed with diabetes. We would like to tell you about all the services we offer to diabetics." Frankly, that bothers me no end. I don't like some perfect strangers knowing about my insides, and worse yet having the unmitigated gall to contact me unasked to comment on it.
I can just imagine the letter now about my mental health. Eeeek.
Precertification is required under my plan for mental health coverage, and the plan contracts to an outside party to handle mental health coverage. I went to this outside party's website and looked up the practioner guidelines. It requires not only a diagnosis code, but a GAF score, a treatment plan, specific and identifiable treatment goals, etc.
And I've heard elsewhere that insurance companies have access to about all of your mental health records except maybe the notes. But what exactly that entails, I'm not sure. How about things I write to him? How about things other mental health professionals write to him. Like my personality test results.
If I start using my insurance in a pre-certified fashion for mental health coverage, how much privacy am I signing away? Will they know about my dysfunctional behaviors? Will they be telling my therapist how to effectively treat me? How about more sessions than they will cover. Can I continue to pay for that out of pocket?
I just don't like the idea, but I suspect that now I've mentioned it to my husband he'll want to follow through. Right now my records are between me and my treatment team. I want to keep it that way!
poster:Dinah
thread:255717
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20030829/msgs/255717.html