Cameron C A, Olswang S G
Department of Dental Hygiene, School of Dentistry, University of Washington, Seattle 98195.
J Dent Educ. 1989 Oct;53(10):569-72.
A survey of the patient debt management policies of all U.S.-accredited dental and dental hygiene educational programs was taken to assess institutional patient debt management procedures and their relationship to student academic progress. The policies were evaluated to determine the level of compliance with existing standards and to analyze them in light of their legal implications relative to student rights. The results illustrated a vast breadth of policies for both dental and dental hygiene programs, ranging from no relationship between debt management and student progress, to an unspecified relationship, to a formal relationship whereby academic progress is conditional on collection of patient fees. The question of the legal validity of conditioning academic progress on third party payments for services was then examined. It is the opinion of the authors that the translation of a student's successful performance in a clinic setting to an academic failure or incomplete based on a patient's failure to pay for services is likely not legally defendable. Thus, it is essential that policies on fee collection and patient debt management not be tied to issues of student academic progress.
对美国所有获得认证的牙科和口腔卫生教育项目的患者债务管理政策进行了一项调查，以评估机构的患者债务管理程序及其与学生学业进展的关系。对这些政策进行了评估，以确定其符合现有标准的程度，并根据其与学生权利相关的法律影响进行分析。结果表明，牙科和口腔卫生项目的政策范围广泛，从债务管理与学生进展之间没有关系，到未明确说明的关系，再到学术进展以收取患者费用为条件的正式关系。然后研究了将学术进展取决于第三方服务付款的法律有效性问题。作者认为，根据患者未支付服务费用而将学生在临床环境中的成功表现转化为学业失败或未完成学业，在法律上可能站不住脚。因此，收费和患者债务管理政策绝不能与学生学业进展问题挂钩，这一点至关重要。
