{"title":"All You Need to Do to Close Your Practice Is to Stop Seeing Clients and Lock the Door","authors":"J. E. Barnett, J. Zimmerman","doi":"10.1093/MED-PSYCH/9780190900762.003.0019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MED-PSYCH/9780190900762.003.0019","url":null,"abstract":"At some point in time most mental health clinicians in private practice will make a decision to close their practice. This chapter focuses on each private practitioner’s many ethical and clinical obligations to clients. Guidance is provided regarding potential pitfalls and legal and financial consequences to avoid in closing one’s private practice. Issues such as preparing clients for the impending closure, making arrangements for referrals and the transfer of records, knowing when to no longer accept new clients, terminating business contracts, and making required public notices of the practice’s closure are all addressed. Further, specific recommendations are made for preparing for unanticipated practice closures and the development and implementation of a professional will.","PeriodicalId":218045,"journal":{"name":"If You Build It They Will Come","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"129454314","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Becoming Licensed Means That I Am Now Competent","authors":"J. E. Barnett, J. Zimmerman","doi":"10.1093/med-psych/9780190900762.003.0002","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/med-psych/9780190900762.003.0002","url":null,"abstract":"Mental health clinicians invest in many years of hard work to develop their clinical competence through graduate coursework and through supervised clinical experiences. All this is done with the ultimate goal of becoming independently licensed to practice in one’s profession. Because licensure is such an important event, signifying the culmination of so much education and training, it may be natural to believe that becoming licensed means that one is now clinically competent. This chapter addresses how clinical competence and licensure should be viewed and understood. Licensure assesses one’s competence to enter the profession, but it cannot guarantee competence in all areas of clinical practice at the time of licensure or in the future. How to maintain, update, and expand one’s competence over time is addressed. Risks and threats to competence are discussed, and recommendations are provided for ensuring one’s ongoing competence over time.","PeriodicalId":218045,"journal":{"name":"If You Build It They Will Come","volume":"1 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"128975248","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"When I Need Clinical or Risk Management Advice I Should Ask for It on a Listserv","authors":"J. E. Barnett, J. Zimmerman","doi":"10.1093/MED-PSYCH/9780190900762.003.0027","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MED-PSYCH/9780190900762.003.0027","url":null,"abstract":"Every mental health clinician will at times need clinical or risk management advice to assist in responding to challenges and to provide the best possible care to clients. How and where to best obtain this advice may seem unclear and be quite challenging for some. This chapter explains the reasons for seeking input and advice from colleagues, options for accessing or obtaining needed guidance when faced with challenges and dilemmas, and risks of which to be aware. Although listservs may be valuable for obtaining general information and for maintaining a community of supportive colleagues, when obtaining clinical consultations that include confidential information, a number of risks are present. This chapter explains these risks, to include confidentiality issues and an inability to share enough information on a listserv to obtain meaningful consultations. How best to obtain needed consultations and how to do so ethically and legally is explained.","PeriodicalId":218045,"journal":{"name":"If You Build It They Will Come","volume":"6 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"125550899","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Continuing Education Requirements Are Unnecessary and Are Not Relevant to My Professional Competence","authors":"J. E. Barnett, J. Zimmerman","doi":"10.1093/med-psych/9780190900762.003.0018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/med-psych/9780190900762.003.0018","url":null,"abstract":"Even the best trained and most highly skilled mental health clinicians must take active steps to maintain, update, and expand their knowledge and skills. Failure to do so on an ongoing basis places one’s professional competence at risk. This chapter explains the fragile nature of competence and the steps to take to help ensure the maintenance of ongoing clinical effectiveness. Enhancing one’s competence to add new skills and to expand one’s clinical practice into new areas also is addressed. Continuing requirements for license renewal are described and placed within the broader context of each mental health practitioner’s overarching ethical obligation to provide the highest quality professional services possible. Specific recommendations for achieving this goal are provided in the hope that mental health clinicians will incorporate them into their ongoing professional activities.","PeriodicalId":218045,"journal":{"name":"If You Build It They Will Come","volume":"164 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"122557036","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"It Is Best to Have a Policy About Cancelled and Missed Appointments, and to Enforce It Consistently","authors":"J. E. Barnett, J. Zimmerman","doi":"10.1093/med-psych/9780190900762.003.0017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/med-psych/9780190900762.003.0017","url":null,"abstract":"No business can run effectively and be profitable if customers do not pay for services offered. Mental health clinicians in private practice can easily go out of business if they repeatedly reserve time for clients that goes uncompensated. This chapter highlights how policies regarding cancelled and missed appointments are essential for the effective running of one’s practice. Yet, this chapter illustrates how rigidly enforcing these policies may backfire and result in harm to one’s practice and even in ethics and legal charges against the clinician. A thoughtful and sensitive approach for implementing these policies is provided. Guidance is offered on how to make decisions regarding the use of these policies and how their effective use may promote the success of one’s private practice. This chapter also explains how to effectively integrate the use of these policies into the ongoing informed consent process.","PeriodicalId":218045,"journal":{"name":"If You Build It They Will Come","volume":"43 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124763434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"If You Build It, They Will Come","authors":"J. E. Barnett, J. Zimmerman","doi":"10.1093/med-psych/9780190900762.001.0001","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/med-psych/9780190900762.001.0001","url":null,"abstract":"Opening a private mental health practice and being a clinically competent clinician are not sufficient for success in private practice. This chapter provides specific strategies and suggestions for how to market one’s mental health private practice effectively. Marketing strategies are explored, and the importance of developing a comprehensive marketing plan is explained as essential to ongoing practice development. This includes how to develop and maintain a diverse range of referral sources, how to promote word of mouth referrals from past clients, and how to be seen as a “go-to” mental health treatment resource throughout one’s community.","PeriodicalId":218045,"journal":{"name":"If You Build It They Will Come","volume":"78 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126061687","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Managed Care Is Evil and Should Be Avoided Like the Plague; Experienced and Competent Clinicians Don’t Participate in Managed Care","authors":"J. E. Barnett, J. Zimmerman","doi":"10.1093/MED-PSYCH/9780190900762.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MED-PSYCH/9780190900762.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"It is easy to believe that managed care is evil and that it should be avoided at all possible costs. Yet, as this chapter explains, not all managed care companies are equivalent. How to determine which managed care companies are worth working with is explained. Factors to consider include contractual issues, fees, documentation requirements, ethical and legal issues, and utilization-review processes. Further, in some communities, many residents may only be able to afford mental health treatment by utilizing their managed care insurance benefits. Consistent with the values of the mental health professions, selective participation with some managed care companies may help achieve the greatest good for those one serves. This chapter explains how with careful forethought, one may ethically participate in managed care, meet clients’ best interests, and be fairly compensated for the clinical services provided.","PeriodicalId":218045,"journal":{"name":"If You Build It They Will Come","volume":"66 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"127113573","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"There Is No Need to Save for Retirement","authors":"J. E. Barnett, J. Zimmerman","doi":"10.1093/med-psych/9780190900762.003.0020","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/med-psych/9780190900762.003.0020","url":null,"abstract":"Perhaps it is every mental health private practitioner’s dream to one day sell his or her practice and to use the proceeds of the sale to fund his or her retirement. This chapter addresses the reasons for this actually being a rare event. Challenges in selling a private practice, including valuing it and creating a business that survives without the involvement of the practitioner who built the practice are addressed. Relevant issues such as contracts and products, outstanding income, debts, good will, and real estate holdings are each discussed as one considers how to value a private mental health practice. How to estimate one’s financial needs in retirement and how to plan effectively for and fund one’s retirement years are described, with specific recommendations for achieving one’s financial goals.","PeriodicalId":218045,"journal":{"name":"If You Build It They Will Come","volume":"609 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123266750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Keeping Clients in Treatment as Long as Possible Is an Effective Practice-Building Strategy","authors":"J. E. Barnett, J. Zimmerman","doi":"10.1093/med-psych/9780190900762.003.0010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/med-psych/9780190900762.003.0010","url":null,"abstract":"Some mental health clinicians may think that it is best to keep clients in treatment as long as possible. After all, this might be seen as an effective way to ensure the stability of one’s private practice, especially for those who are not familiar with how to market their practice effectively. This chapter illustrates how this practice is actually counterproductive to the goal of maintaining a steady client base. It likely will alienate and displease clients and referral sources alike, discourage potential future clients from seeking treatment, place the clinician at risk ethically and legally, and not be a sustainable business practice. This chapter illustrates how meeting each client’s clinical needs appropriately, and helping them toward independent functioning as quickly as is reasonably possible, will actually be a practice-building strategy that will encourage more referrals and a more financially successful practice.","PeriodicalId":218045,"journal":{"name":"If You Build It They Will Come","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116883127","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"There Is No Need to Waste My Hard-Earned Money on Consultants, Attorneys, and Certified Public Accountants","authors":"J. E. Barnett, J. Zimmerman","doi":"10.1093/MED-PSYCH/9780190900762.003.0012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/MED-PSYCH/9780190900762.003.0012","url":null,"abstract":"Although most mental health professionals are experts in their clinical area of practice, very few of them are experts in the business aspects of practice. This chapter explains the important role thoughtfully selected consultants can play in preparing for, establishing, running, and managing a successful private mental health practice. How to best use consultants to prevent business problems and help maximize your investment in your private practice is clearly explained. Examples of consultants and how their expertise may save the mental health practitioner thousands and even tens of thousands of dollars, not to mention ethical and legal difficulties, are provided. Issues such as incorporation, practice structure, contracts, leases, hiring and firing, insurance, taxes, and so forth are addressed. Additionally, the role of consultations with expert clinicians when confronted with clinically challenging situations is explained. Key recommendations for the effective use of consultants are provided.","PeriodicalId":218045,"journal":{"name":"If You Build It They Will Come","volume":"148 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117269608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}