Avoid Unnecessary Liability and Navigate High-Risk Situations 

Mental health providers are not lawyers; mental health providers don't want to be lawyers. But providers face complicated issues because of their special relationship with clients. How can you be a caring helper and still protect yourself from lawsuits, licensing board complaints, and liability? How can you enjoy helping the people you've been trained to help while maintaining simple and manageable records that will protect you?

This seminar will introduce you to both the essential demands of professional liability and the regulatory demands that mental health providers face. You will learn how to structure your practice and your business to limit exposure to risk, as well as discover simple records, notes, and actions that will protect you in the event of a complaint.

Stop feeling overwhelmed by lawyers and the law. Allow Dr. Flynn to empower you in your practice and impart the knowledge to implement these processes immediately, which will enable you to avoid many possible high-risk situations with clients.

Course Content

THE LAW

• Introduction

• Law as prevention
• How lawyers and mental health professionals are different

• California negligence law, malpractice, and personal injury lawsuits
  • Fiduciary doctrine
  • Tort doctrine
  • General liability
  • The professional standard of care and the per se rule
• How do deal with your licensing boards
  • The process
    • The investigation
    • Settlement negotiations
    • Administrative Appeals
  • Reasons you should have a lawyer
  • Liability carriers and coverage

the paper trail

• Psychotherapist privilege and confidentiality in California
  • Privacy as a fundamental right
  • Your responsibility to keep client information private
  • Duty to Warn
• Records and office forms-YOUR best protection
  • Informed consent
  • Treatment plans and why they are valuable
  • Case notes: simple, brief, and professional
  • The one file every California practice should have
• How to stay out of court and away from lawyers
• What to do about email, texting, Facebook, and other Twenty-First Century electronic questions.
• HIPAA in California
  • The long and the short of handling HIPAA

STRUCTURING OF YOUR BUSINESS TO AVOID RISK

·Overview

-The agency problems

-Vicarious liability

-The problem with colleagues

·Available options in a nutshell and the risk management benefits of each

-Sole proprietorships

-Partnerships

-Corporations

-LLCs

-Independent contractors

-Office sharing agreements

-And what is risk management anway?

·Final advice

-IRS never forgets

-Managed care companies are not your friends or allies

HIGH-RISK SITUATIONS

• Number one risk-what is it?
• Sexual abuse allegations-what to do
• Dual relationships
• The more hurried the visit, the more risk undertaken