Anytime a student is seen by a school social worker, school psychologist, or clinical mental health counselor, and services are billed to Medicare or Medicaid by the school, a medical diagnosis code is applied. The medical diagnosis code is referred to as a CPT code, which is a procedure code. This refers to the services being performed. An example would be counseling or therapy.
The DX codes are referred to as ICD-10 diagnosis codes. Those with medical coding and billing would be familiar with all of this.
All of this information is included in the student’s medical chart, which follows them to high school, and into any record that is requested by the military later on in life. This also includes anyone who wants to pursue law enforcement as a career. See: https://icdcodelookup.com/icd-10/common-codes/mental-behavioral-health
It’s also important to know that President Biden wants to remove parental consent on Medicaid billing. Democrats on the House Education Committee also voted against HB1616, which would require parental consent for Medicaid billing. This could mean that you may never know what mental or medical services your child received at school.
Anita Hoge warned about some this years ago when she wrote: The Medicalization of Schools.
Now that we see schools hiring counselors, social workers, and school psychologists at an alarming rate, just check your school roster to see who’s been hired over the past few years. Parents need to understand their rights under the law and what this can do to a child long-term.
Federal law requires written consent from parents when their children are assessed or receive mental health services. But we know many schools do not obtain consent from parents when their children participate in Social and Emotional Learning, and their child’s personal mental health data has been shared without their knowledge or consent too.
While I want every child to receive mental health help if they truly need it, it’s important to know that something as simple as a trip to the school counselor for a bad day can have life-long consequences.
