This Tuesday Q&A Question comes from Amie. Amie asks, “If you have closed out with a client because of not hearing from them and sent them a letter, do you need to send them another letter stating your practice is officially closed? If you are closing your practice and/or relocating out of state”.
In this particular case, Amie had not worked with those clients in a few months and they never responded to the letter she sent out. Ethically and legally she covered her bases with those clients. She will still need to keep their files for a period of time, most cases that is seven years, but other than that she is all set to move on! You can always check with your liability insurance carrier when in doubt. Contacting old clients could put you in a position of having someone else know their counseling history. You don’t even know if the information on file is current since you last saw them.
Now let’s say we were taking about current clients. In that case, here are a few suggestions:
- Let your clients know at least a month in advance, if possible. This will allow them time to process the termination and get set up with a new therapist if necessary.
- Depending on client need, get a release of information to provide a statement of treatment or to call their new therapist. This will possibly help the new therapist and your client work together more efficiently. This would take planning so that it doesn’t become an administrative nightmare.
- Let clients know how they can contact you. You want them to know how they should proceed if they ever need their files, after you close your doors. Remember, your client has a right to their process notes BUT psychotherapy notes belong to the therapist. Psychotherapy notes can still be viewed, for example, with a judge’s order but that’s another post…
- If you want to go the extra mile, you can have a note on your website for clients to see. It can explain when you are closing and how they can obtain records if necessary.
- If you know of someone who just recently terminated with you, and you want to call them, you can do that too.
There are so many things to think about when you close or move a practice! What else would you do in this situation?
Camille, this is such a great topic to address – thank you. I have one extra bit to provide on child clients and then I have a question. So, with child clients, we are obligated to keep their records secure until they reach age 18 as I understand it – of course double check with your own liability insurance company if in question. The second thing I want to address is what to do with records if a therapist closes their practice – not just relocates. My primary care physician closed his private practice deciding for lifestyle reasons to take a job as a hospital doctor instead. When he did, he notified all of his patients to go to his former offices and pick up our medical records and he gave each patient an official referral to another PCP. It raises the question, if a therapist closes his/her practice completely what do we do with the records? I’m thinking contacting our governing professional association is a good source to check with but wondering if you know. Thanks for all you do to help therapists with the ins and outs of practice building Camille!
Hi Lynn! Thank you for pointing out that record holding for children starts when they turn 18. That is in fact true. The number of years we hold those records may vary by state but at least 7 years is a good rule of thumb.
I have heard of doctors keeping them in locked filing cabinets in storage rooms. Most clinician won’t be able to do that. I had an old supervisor from years ago, who kept old files in a locked fire proof storage cabinet in her attic. I think these are good options and I would be interested to see what our professional association suggests as well!
This is timely considering I will be moving to another state. For me I work with other counselors so someone will pick up my caseload. I have been cautious about letting the residents know that I am leaving because most of them have dementia so I will contact their POA. I am know processing that my time is near and I have already spoken to my supervisor about how I feel about this. As time draws near I allow myself to reflect on the progress that everyone has completed and I am grateful for the time spent with them.