LucyStoner Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 This week I had to call my son's pediatrician and ask for a note so he can play down in soccer (he was born pre term and had he been born 5 days later he'd be U8 by age and not U9 plus he has some developmental/motor issues) and to have him write out a prescription for SLP services because the insurance company wanted that on top of the dx report that recommended SLP services from the psychiatrist who dx him. He did this same day, no problem, no charge. He knows our son, has the records from the evaluation and just did it. I mentioned needing to get those notes to a friend in passing and she said their pediatrician charges money for writing such notes. Like $75-100. Is this common? I can see charging something (yet am glad our pediatrician does not) but $100 seems steep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaVT Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Yikes - ours does not. We needed him to fill out a form before we started homeschooling stating that DS did not need any accommodations to learn. He did it, no charge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Nope ours doesn't. That's crazy! Ours does charge $5 for shot records if you lose the copy they provided at each well child visit, but that's the only thing I've ever run into as far as pediatricians. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spryte Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 (edited) No. Well, not the one we used for 12 years. I don't know about the new one. I hope not! That's excessive. Edited June 29, 2016 by Spryte Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Wow -- no way! I've never heard of that! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caroline Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 We pay a flat fee of $30 per year and can get all the notes we want. Or you can pay $20 for each note. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SebastianCat Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 We can get an unlimited number of notes written or forms filled out at each child's once-a-year physical appointment. Outside of that, we have to pay for notes or forms. We've never had to pay for anything yet. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolt. Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 In Canadian healthcare "getting a note written" is one of the few things we do pay for. (It's not considered a medical service.) I'd expect $20-ish per note, more for complicated forms like an employment medical exam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rachel Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Our pediatricians office doesn't charge if you request a note during a regular check up. They have a generic camp and sports form in with the paperwork The official policy is that they charge $25 for notes such as what you mentioned, however I was not charged the couple of times I needed one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne in CA Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Our first one didn't, our second one wanted $75. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theelfqueen Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 No. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 (edited) In Canadian healthcare "getting a note written" is one of the few things we do pay for. (It's not considered a medical service.) I'd expect $20-ish per note, more for complicated forms like an employment medical exam. That's the same in the UK NHS. It's likely to be about £25. Edited June 29, 2016 by Laura Corin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OneStepAtATime Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 No charge for notes but if you lose immunization records and need a new one they charge like $5 or something. I agree, that seems really steep. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daria Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 (edited) My pediatrician charges $25 for things like camp, school, or sports physical forms unless you bring them to a physical. I am not sure if he'd consider a note about playing down in soccer to be in that category or not. He doesn't charge for referrals or prescriptions. That's part of his job as primary care provider. edited to add the $25 Edited June 29, 2016 by Daria Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Upennmama Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 I think it's like 7 bucks for forms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovinmyboys Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Ours is free during annual physical, $25 any other time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PrincessMommy Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 The only thing similar is our doctor charges $10 to fill out those physician forms that are needed for stay-away camps or starting at a new school and participating in sports. These often include a copy of the immunization records too. It doesn't sound like what you wanted from your Dr. though and it's no where near $75. that is crazy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crimson Wife Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Our charges an annual admin fee of $25 per child up to $50 max per family. I think that's reasonable. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caviar Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 No! Thank goodness! We've had many notes written, and mailed to us and other various places! The doctor doesn't usually do it though. It's one of the staff who stamps it with the doctors signature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Ours did that, and when I asked about a developmental concern outside the standard well baby panel they charged for each one I asked about. The base fee for appointments was ridiculous enough but that put us over the edge and made us switch to the family practice with our midwives and their ANPs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Farrar Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Nope. But my own gp forces me to go in just to ask if they can treat something or if I need to see a specialist (answer, no, they can't, give us your co-pay, no we can't recommend anyone, find your own specialist, we'll be billing your insurance for the full appointment, we're not even sure why you bothered to come here). But unlike gp's, pediatricians are mostly good people IME. That's sucky. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 $25 for sports physicals or the like, $5 to pick up a paper prescription It's the area norm. It wasn't like this where I lived previously. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 $20 for a note but it is waived sometimes. $30 for the school medical form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Tick Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 We don't have to pay for filling out those crazy invasive-seeming camp forms, and I feel like these days that is the ONLY thing we don't pay for. I told DH I was thinking about taking in a whole handful, just 'cuz. I also predict that within three years we will have to pay at least $20 per. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 This week I had to call my son's pediatrician and ask for a note so he can play down in soccer (he was born pre term and had he been born 5 days later he'd be U8 by age and not U9 plus he has some developmental/motor issues) and to have him write out a prescription for SLP services because the insurance company wanted that on top of the dx report that recommended SLP services from the psychiatrist who dx him. He did this same day, no problem, no charge. He knows our son, has the records from the evaluation and just did it. I mentioned needing to get those notes to a friend in passing and she said their pediatrician charges money for writing such notes. Like $75-100. Is this common? I can see charging something (yet am glad our pediatrician does not) but $100 seems steep. Wow. No, I got a note recently, and I just delivered the necessary paper and they called when it was back at the desk for me to pick up. He's great. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 $20 for a note but it is waived sometimes. $30 for the school medical form. Seriously? How is this not part of the sports exam or the wellness check-up (whichever you do)? You are already paying big bucks for the exam required to get the form. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 $25 for sports physicals or the like, $5 to pick up a paper prescription It's the area norm. It wasn't like this where I lived previously. You mean $25 for the Sports physicals and the signed document? Or you pay for the Sports exam and then pay $25 more dollars just to get him to sign off? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted June 29, 2016 Share Posted June 29, 2016 Seriously? How is this not part of the sports exam or the wellness check-up (whichever you do)? You are already paying big bucks for the exam required to get the form. We pay nothing or $20 out of pocket for the kids annual wellness checkup depending on the insurance we have, but the $30 is the "admin fee" for the school form regardless of what insurance we have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 You mean $25 for the Sports physicals and the signed document? Or you pay for the Sports exam and then pay $25 more dollars just to get him to sign off? If you have the sports physical form done during your yearly well-child, it's free. There is no less expensive sports exam option, though you can schedule an office visit. The office will fill out the sports physical if you have been seen in the last year and charge you $25 to pick it up. School notes, daycare notes, camp paperwork....you pay for each note required. Given that our school district requires doctor notes for illnesses, we'd go broke between all of our kids if we enrolled them given their chronic asthma, etc. issues. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alessandra Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 No, no, and no. No charge for camp and sports forms. No charge for kid had an appt, excuse from school for said appt No charge for kid had a concussion note, but can return to school No charge for kid's concussion wait time is over note, sports can resume And no charge for a special letter after an illness, asking school to excuse latenesses and cut back homework. Our pediatrician is excellent in many other ways too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bolt. Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 Just want to mention that neither school, nor 'camp', nor any sports (recreational) that we have participated in have needed a medical form filled out. I've only ever needed one pre-employment medical form (school bus driver) and DH hasn't had any need for one (5+ jobs). Schools might (?) ask for a medical note if they are about to consider truancy issues, they would want you to have a chance to avoid that. Parents are able to excuse elementary kids (higher schools may be different -- IDK). Overall, we seem to have fewer situations that need forms than is the norm for the US. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted June 30, 2016 Author Share Posted June 30, 2016 I mentioned to them that our landlord has a form they need a doctor to fill out about allergies to replace the flooring to wood laminate from carpet without charging us and the office said to email it to them and they will email it back. Also no charge. I wonder if some doctors charge for FMLA forms? Our ped has filled those out for my husband (to take leave based on our older son's health issues) and again, no charge. It would seem cruel to charge someone who needed to take generally unpaid leave from work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LucyStoner Posted June 30, 2016 Author Share Posted June 30, 2016 Ours did that, and when I asked about a developmental concern outside the standard well baby panel they charged for each one I asked about. The base fee for appointments was ridiculous enough but that put us over the edge and made us switch to the family practice with our midwives and their ANPs. For each child or each concern? And added charges DURING a checkup? For questions? What on earth!? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinder Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 It's free for forms/notes if you get them during an appointment. It's $5* if you need it any other time. It's not the ped specifically but, rather, the healthcare network he's in that started charging. *It was $5 a couple years ago. I don't know if it's gone up since then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TravelingChris Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 My daughter had the allergist write a letter why she needed a single room with a single bathroom in college. (My daughter is severely allergic to citrus fruits and too many shampoos, deodorants, hairsprays, etc have that sent and cause her to become anaphalactic.) No charge for that. Before that, she wrote out instructions for what to do if she needed an epipen and was away from a hospital (What medications she was supposed to take, when to administer a second epipen,etc. MY daughter was in a BSA Venture Crew and went on hikes, backpacking, etc, where she was in back country). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 (edited) We pay nothing or $20 out of pocket for the kids annual wellness checkup depending on the insurance we have, but the $30 is the "admin fee" for the school form regardless of what insurance we have.Hmm. That is interesting. We just got the sports exam. Treated as a wellness (because it is for us), so no co-pay and he filled out the form at the appointment. No charge for that. I brought the forms. Are they charging for providing the forms? Edited June 30, 2016 by TranquilMind Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 If you have the sports physical form done during your yearly well-child, it's free. There is no less expensive sports exam option, though you can schedule an office visit. The office will fill out the sports physical if you have been seen in the last year and charge you $25 to pick it up. School notes, daycare notes, camp paperwork....you pay for each note required. Given that our school district requires doctor notes for illnesses, we'd go broke between all of our kids if we enrolled them given their chronic asthma, etc. issues. That is crazy to charge for each one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 In our ped's case, they are not charging for providing the forms. They are charging for the time spent filling out the forms. They came up with a flat fee schedule to uniformly charge all of their patients who need forms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alice Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 That seems crazy high. We charge $5 for forms (college, camp, school, sports, etc). We used to not charge but the number of forms we do has hugely increased to the point where in the summers we actually have extra staff in the office just to fill out forms. Each form might seem really simple and easy but when you multiple it by 3-4 per patient (school, 2 separate camps, etc) it can pile up very quickly. We do not charge for the kind of note you mentioned or other notes (school excuse, letters to schools, letters to insurance companies, letters to airlines requesting that someone bring an Epi Pen on board, etc, etc, etc) 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bluegoat Posted June 30, 2016 Share Posted June 30, 2016 (edited) Also Canadian, and yes, it is pretty common. Lots of practices have a policy like this for forms and notes. They may not always charge if there is also an office visit, which is billable, and it is a short note. Or, if they know you can't pay. The issue is, the doctor gets payed nothing for filling out your forms or writing a note - it isn't, here, a billable service. And though it seems like a small thing to patients, those kinds of things - phone consults or refilling prescriptions by phone are other examples - can add up to hours of work the doctor isn't getting paid for. I would suspect that those US patients whose doctors don't charge directly are paying for the service indirectly - the time spent on that is likely factored into the overall rates. Also - I know of a few Canadian doctors who have started charging employers for sick notes for employees, in an effort to stop them asking for them. They see it as a waste of heath services resources. Edited June 30, 2016 by Bluegoat Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scoutingmom Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Another Canadian.... yes it is standard to charge for forms... often even a note for work or school. That said, my kids' paediatrician hasn't charged us to fill out long camp forms. He has the right to, anc when I'd asked the person on the phone what the fee would be, she kind of indicated that he varies on if he charges... so I guess we have been lucky. They have done the kids physical at the same time, so he would get paid for that part. I know that $50-$100 would be the general range for those types of gorms. Sent from my SM-T530NU using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melissa in Australia Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 The twin's one doesn't. I think that is his way of supporting kids in care. However the psycologest that they were seeing wanted to charge $170 per page for anything...and he wouldn't combine the twins paperwork Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 I brought the forms. Are they charging for providing the forms? We bring the forms too. They are charging as time spent filling the form up, just that it is a flat rate. We get the forms back in 15~30mins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 The twin's one doesn't. I think that is his way of supporting kids in care. However the psycologest that they were seeing wanted to charge $170 per page for anything...and he wouldn't combine the twins paperwork Oh my goodness! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TranquilMind Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 Also Canadian, and yes, it is pretty common. Lots of practices have a policy like this for forms and notes. They may not always charge if there is also an office visit, which is billable, and it is a short note. Or, if they know you can't pay. The issue is, the doctor gets payed nothing for filling out your forms or writing a note - it isn't, here, a billable service. And though it seems like a small thing to patients, those kinds of things - phone consults or refilling prescriptions by phone are other examples - can add up to hours of work the doctor isn't getting paid for. I would suspect that those US patients whose doctors don't charge directly are paying for the service indirectly - the time spent on that is likely factored into the overall rates. Also - I know of a few Canadian doctors who have started charging employers for sick notes for employees, in an effort to stop them asking for them. They see it as a waste of heath services resources. Right. We pay for it. We just pay for it in highly inflated rates to line the pockets of the conglomerates that now own the doctor practices. Once upon a time, the doctors (even mine) owned their own practices. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 No that is absolutely ridiculous. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SparklyUnicorn Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 You figure here there is a walk in place that does physicals for that sort of stuff and they charge $100 for the whole thing. So $100 to write a note?! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
redsquirrel Posted July 1, 2016 Share Posted July 1, 2016 No and honestly I wouldn't blame them if they did for some of the stuff I have needed filled out. I had to have a rather complicated health form filled out for ds1 so he could attend a residential ballet program and I wouldn't have blamed them one bit if they had charged me. The thing was something like 6 pages long. All they asked for was 3 days time to complete it. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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