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Miscoding of Mental Health Diagnoses and Stigmatization-Reply
W. Eugene Broadhead, MD, PhD
Family Healthcare Centers Danville, Va
Arch Fam Med. 1995;4(11):917.
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| Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings. |
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In reply
Devitt expresses the frustration of us all when the insurance company denies our patient's insurance, for whatever reason, when we think the patient is "insurable." In this case, physician comments in the medical record and an unfamiliar blood test were used by the company to make a business decision not to insure the patient because of a perceived increased risk to the company. This was not a clinical decision, does not require solid evidence, and is not subject to the clinician's judgment.
While my original statement in my editorial referred more to miscoding of clinical information, Devitt questions whether omitting the details of his patient encounter would drive the problem of discrimination against the mentally ill "in this case, the worried well" underground. While his patient may have been only worried, worry about alcohol drinking behavior in a person from an alcoholic family puts him at risk for alcoholism even
. . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]
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