NZSCM 2017 Red Flag Client Discussions
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At the NZSCM conference we had the fantastic opportunity to listen to Dr Natasha Cook.
Today I had a client in who had cancelled on me 3 times already last year. We took an hour to reply to her online booking. She wrote on our Facebook page complaining, sent us a messenger message, and a text all complaining about the delay. When she came in, she told me how Caci had done it wrong (with which I disagreed) she had had free treatment at Clinic 42, and Caci told her Dysport only cost $1 a unit wholesale evidently. All the red flags Dr Cook warned us about. What do we do about these clients? Dr Cook had a few ideas, what are yours? Who was at the conference and would like to share their notes on this? Great for topic discussion I think. Have you had a client like this? What did you do about it?
And while we are on the subject of Red Flag Clients; have you had a runner in your clinic who did not pay you? What are the laws around this? Can we share on our secure page, who these people are to be avoided? I have consulted a lawyer who says we can, but is there a further confidentiality for medical professionals that says even here we cannot? What are your thoughts on this?
This is a difficult one. It is worth referring to the code of conduct for nurses (see pg 24).
Also the Health Information Privacy Code 1994. https://www.privacy.org.nz/the-privacy-act-and-codes/codes-of-practice/health-information-privacy-code-1994/
With the exception of this clause:
Treat as confidential information gained in the
course of the nurse-health consumer relationship 5.8 and use it for professional purposes only.I would say the answer is no…..but as a professional purpose, surely, at a psychiatric level (is that the term) concern for the client, in hunting down too many treatments, in refusal to pay etc, could be considered a necessary reason to discuss within our community as a professional purpose?
Rule 8, Rule 9, Rule 10 and Rule 11 place restrictions on how people and organisations can use or disclose health information. These include ensuring information is accurate and up-to-date, and that it isn’t improperly disclosed.
so if it is not improperly disclosed and in our case it isn’t related to their health, its not a health issue, which is something I completely agree should not be compromised…..what then?
I know Emma Lindley has a client, who also went to Linda I think, which sounded to me like a psychiatric case, that would be in the clients best interest, as well as ours, to be for warned about. She was doing the rounds.
I’m not sure if anyone else has had advice on this one?. I know for years Kensington Swan advised against Caci Clinics sharing any information (even client names) between clinics for this reason as it was not covered in their consent form (I believe this has since been amended).
Similarly there was a lipo client who didn’t pay at our clinic (cancelled her cheque on the day of the procedure), and proceeded to blackmail with bad reviews… she turned out to have done this to at least 4 injectors that I know of (some of you)…
long story short, we reported her to the police. It was a long and messy road (small claims court, district court, appeal, high court)… on each occasion the courts found in favour of Ron. She is now in the process of bankruptcy for the funds.
Once again, unfortunately Rons QC advised that her name could not be shared due to a beach of confidentiality and suggested each of the clinics concerned lodge a police report in the hopes that enough information is obtained for a crown prosecution.
I am not saying you can’t share if you wish, just letting you know my experiences:-/
Also, the way we discovered the 4 injectors which this client had ripped off was them reading her google reviews and contacting us independently to share their stories (because this client acted in a similar way with each of them). This suggests there are many, many more out there :(
Great discussion Kate, thank you!! I have had a few…..one I am certain has been through more of you…….she ‘forgot’ her phone was in her car with her credit cards, she would be right back….never returned…..chasing her was futile…..we phoned many times chasing her……to fill out the forms to chase default clients takes ages and small claims court is also tiresome, they don’t always understand our point of view. Perhaps we should be billing before treatment. But then that cancelled check thing is problematic.
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