Tab Page – Office Policies – Consent

Consent – Who Can Accompany Patient Into Exam Room

• If you are being seen thru Worker’s Comp, we will only allow the patient in the exam room.  If a NCM or Adjustor wants to meet with Dr. Athni, they will need to schedule a separate appointment with the front office.
• If you are an adult and are being seen thru your private insurance or Medicare or Tricare, we will allow your spouse into the exam room.
• BUT, for anyone else, we will need a Medical Power-of-Attorney (Medical POA) or a Notorized letter stating the third-party is allowed to be involved in the patient’s care.  This would include friends or a parent of a patient or an adult child of a patient.
• This is a standard practice in Psychiatric offices.  Although we are not treating Psychiatric illnesses, many of our patients have cognitive issues.  To make sure decisions are being made in the best interest of the patient, we require such a POA.  Even if you do not have any issues which involve your cognitive abilities, we have one policy for all patients.
• We hope you understand the rationale for this policy.  We are merely trying to make sure unauthorized people (who may not have the patient’s best interest) are not involved in medical decisions.