Rounded-Up Minutes and a Letter for the Attorney

Billing under his provider number: the claim then states that he rendered a service you performed. That is misrepresentation on an insurance claim, and your name is on the treatment record even if his number is on the form.

Charting 60 minutes for a 45-minute session: this is a false entry in a medical-adjacent record, made at someone else's instruction. Falsified duration is one of the easiest things for an auditor to catch, because it contradicts the schedule. It converts a routine claim into fraud and puts your license or certification at risk along with his.

The attorney's statement: predicting a year of future need is a prognosis, which is outside massage scope, and signing it makes you the author of an opinion you cannot support.

Unpaid charting with no written agreement: documentation is a required part of the service, not a favor. Unpaid required work is a wage issue, and having nothing in writing leaves your duties, rate, and status undefined.

The common thread is that each request asks you to say something in writing that is not true.

First, confirm authorization. Before discussing anything about a client, get a signed release from the client permitting communication with that attorney, and keep a copy.

Then narrow the request to what you can actually provide:

• Facts of care: dates of service, session length, techniques used, areas treated, objective measurements you took, and the client's self-reported changes in pain and function.
• Not opinion: no prediction of future need, no endorsement of a frequency someone else chose, no statement that massage is 'medically necessary' for a year. Say clearly: 'I can report what I did and what I observed. I can't predict what she will need a year from now.'
• Offer a substitute document - a factual summary of treatment - which is usually what the attorney actually needs to support the record.
• Keep a copy of everything you send, and note the date and what was requested.

If a subpoena arrives, provide records rather than argument, and get advice before adding commentary. A therapist who sends honest, limited factual summaries is both more useful and far less exposed than one who signs whatever is drafted for them.

Push back on the record-keeping first, because that is the live risk.

1. Do not make the false entries. Write the actual treatment time. If the schedule only permits 45 minutes of hands-on work, the note says 45.
2. Ask for the correction in writing - a short, neutral message: 'I can't document time that wasn't spent in the room or bill under another provider's number. Can we review how sessions get scheduled and coded?' Neutral wording keeps the door open and creates a record that you raised it.
3. Keep your own dated copies of notes you wrote and of any instructions you were given, within whatever your state's rules allow for record access - you are entitled to copies of records you authored.
4. Ask about pay for charting. Charting is part of the service; if you are hourly, the time should be compensated, and if you are paid per session, that should be spelled out in writing. Request an employment agreement covering rate, duties, charting time, and who owns records.
5. Know your resources: state licensing board or certification body for scope and documentation questions, a labor authority for wage questions, and an attorney for the billing instruction.

The through-line: never alter a note to match a request after the fact. Corrections are made by dated addendum, never by rewriting the original.