Information For Our Patients Of Divorced Parents
We at NCA care about your children and your family, and we understand that divorce is a stressful time for any family. Please let us know at any time if you feel counseling might be beneficial, as we will be happy to provide a referral to a counselor.
Please understand that our goal in presenting these guidelines is to provide the highest possible level of care for our patients. It is imperative that we care for your child(ren) in an open atmosphere where information is shared with both parents.
Information Sharing
Under North Carolina law, both parents are entitled to information about their child(ren) unless a court order specifically bars a parent from such information. We expect both parents to communicate with each other regarding their child's health and medical history. It is not the responsibility of our office to provide information to each parent separately because the parents don't communicate with each other. Please know that our role is to be impartial and therefore we cannot take the side of one parent over the other.
Information of File
The address listed first for your child(ren) should be the address at which the child resides. If parents share custody and the child resides at two different addresses, please list the address of the parent providing insurance coverage first. Please don't eliminate the "other" parent by listing a step-parent instead, as this prevents us from keeping appropriate information on file when both parents are entitled to information about their child(ren).
Financial Responsibilities
The parent that brings the child to our office for the appointment is responsible for paying any copay or deductible in full at the time of service. A parent sometimes tells us that the "other" parent is responsible for the copay or deductible and that we should send a bill to that person. Both parents are responsible and both should settle the payment details without our involvement. We do not provide duplicate statements nor are we responsible for notifying more than one parent of an account delinquency. Payment responsibility is a decision of the court and cannot be negotiated by us.
Unfortunately, we sometimes find that a parent has been deceptive regarding payment responsibility, the address at which the child resides, custody arrangements, etc. We reserve the right to dismiss the family from our practice if we feel a parent has been deceptive regarding information shared with our office.
