All You Need to Do to Close Your Practice Is to Stop Seeing Clients and Lock the Door

2019 ◽  
pp. 101-106
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Barnett ◽  
Jeffrey Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Private Practice ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Financial Consequences

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.

Being Known as a Generalist Will Position My Practice Well in the Community

2019 ◽  
pp. 17-24
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Barnett ◽  
Jeffrey Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Private Practice ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Clinical Skills ◽  
Clinical Care ◽  
Local Market ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Treatment Needs ◽  
Private Practitioners ◽  
Specialty Practice

Although mental health clinicians share a range of general clinical skills, and although each of these skills is important to providing excellent clinical care, such skills are not sufficient for success in the business of private practice. This chapter addresses this myth and shares how mental health clinicians must position themselves in their local market in order to be successful. Specific guidance is provided on how to develop specialty areas and niche areas of practice. It is made clear how these will assist private practitioners to differentiate themselves from local competitors and to better meet the treatment needs of their local community. Concrete steps for developing and building a successful niche practice are provided along with useful resources that may be consulted and utilized to help ensure success in developing and running a niche or specialty practice.

If You Build It They Will Come

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Barnett ◽  
Jeffrey Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Private Practice ◽  
Clinical Effectiveness ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Health Practice ◽  
Ethical Practice ◽  
Mental Health Practice ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Financial Consequences ◽  
Key Resources

The private practice of mental health is a vibrant, thriving, and financially rewarding career path. Yet, many individuals who are considering entering private practice may have heard, or believe, a number of “myths” about private mental health practice. Believing these myths may result in not going into private practice and missing out on a wonderful career, or for those who enter private practice, it may result in a number of costly mistakes. These mistakes may have clinical, ethical, legal, and financial consequences. The authors of this book share practical advice based on their decades of clinical experience to address common myths about private practice in an easily accessible manner. Myths addressed fall into the broad areas of preparing for private practice, building your practice, managing your practice, documentation and record keeping, and ethical practice. Each chapter addresses a specific myth that may be believed, describes the myth, explains why the myth exists, and then offers specific guidance for moving beyond the myth. Accurate information is provided to help the reader avoid common pitfalls, and practice ethically, legally, and with clinical effectiveness. In addition to the specific recommendations and strategies provided in each chapter, each section offers a list of key resources available for additional guidance and support. This book is easy to read. It’s as if you are sitting with the authors and getting an in-person and practical consultation that is specific to your practice.

Keeping Clients in Treatment as Long as Possible Is an Effective Practice-Building Strategy

2019 ◽  
pp. 52-54
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Barnett ◽  
Jeffrey Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
At Risk ◽  
Private Practice ◽  
Business Practice ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Effective Practice ◽  
Sustainable Business ◽  
The Stability ◽  
Independent Functioning

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.

If I “Sell Out” to the Business of Practice, I Give Up My Core Value of Altruism

2019 ◽  
pp. 12-16
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Barnett ◽  
Jeffrey Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Health Professional ◽  
Mental Health Professional ◽  
Private Practice ◽  
Mental Health Treatment ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Treatment Needs ◽  
Health Treatment ◽  
Successful Business ◽  
Practice Care

Mental health clinicians in private practice are business persons who have the goal of running a successful business. It is easy to believe that those who are highly successful in the business of private practice care primarily about making money and that they have lost their focus on caring for others and addressing their mental health treatment needs. This chapter examines how running an ethically responsible successful practice is essential for assisting and caring for others. It highlights how clinicians may run a financially successful private practice and remain true to the values that led them to pursue a career as a mental health professional. Specific recommendations are provided for being financially successful while remaining true to one’s values.

It Is Best to Have a Policy About Cancelled and Missed Appointments, and to Enforce It Consistently

2019 ◽  
pp. 91-94
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Barnett ◽  
Jeffrey Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Informed Consent ◽  
Private Practice ◽  
Informed Consent Process ◽  
Consent Process ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Missed Appointments ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Reserve Time

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.

There Is No Need to Have a Budget or Business Plan

2019 ◽  
pp. 76-80
Author(s):  
Jeffrey E. Barnett ◽  
Jeffrey Zimmerman
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Private Practice ◽  
Business Plan ◽  
Essential Elements ◽  
Mental Health Practitioners ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
The Many ◽  
And Training

The business of mental health practice may be quite complex and for those without education and training in the business of practice, it may seem quite daunting. Failure to approach the private practice of mental health from a business perspective may doom one’s practice to failure. This chapter addresses the role of a business plan, explains how it is used, and describes the essential elements that guide practitioners in making decisions relevant to the structuring and running of their practice. The importance of preparation and a detailed business plan, as well as an accompanying budget, is explained. The ways in which such tools can assist mental health clinicians to appropriately plan for and address the many structural, financial, and other challenges that commonly arise in the course of running a business are discussed. Practical strategies and concrete suggestions are offered to help mental health practitioners develop and maintain a financially viable private practice.

Considerations in Acquiring Office Space

2017 ◽  
pp. 135-143
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Zimmerman ◽  
Steven Walfish
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Integrated Care ◽  
Private Practice ◽  
Mental Health Clinicians ◽  
Entire Process ◽  
Office Space ◽  
Made In

Acquiring office space is one of the largest business expenditures made in the course of running a private practice. Most mental health clinicians are not knowledgeable or experienced in such transactions. This chapter focuses on the entire process of securing space, including preparing to look for space, looking at and assessing options, and negotiating a lease. The various considerations involved in renting space, subletting space, or purchasing an office are reviewed. These concepts are then integrated into a discussion of how to creatively secure office space in the era of integrated care.

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