Are you thinking about leaving your current
place of employment to venture into private practice on your own? If so, you may share Barbara Salkewicz‘ concern. Barbara is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Brick, New Jersey who wrote me earlier this month. She says . . .
Hi Tamara,
Hope this note finds you enjoying a great summer! Once again thank you for all the generous advice and information you give to all of us. I have been doing preliminary planning to start my own practice for some time now awaiting the alignment of the planets so to speak.
Well, recently I was offered an office to rent in a local psychiatrists office for a very nominal fee. This fee includes not just the office space but her staff for appointments and billing etc. My question is what is the most appropriate way of letting my current clients know that I am starting my own practice.
I am currently on vacation and would like to get things moving as I am sure a good portion of my clients will follow me and I would naturally like to have this base to start with. I have been experimenting with various letters but would value your input tremendously.
Thanks so much for your help!”
How wise of you to leverage the relationships that you currently have with your clients! It’s the honorable and right thing to do. According to the American Counseling Association, your employer does not have the relationship with your clients; you do!
Barring any non-compete clause that you may have signed with your employer, you have every right to take your clients with you. One of the best ways to do this is to send out a celebratory announcement to each one of them with the details of your transition. What that may look like is this:
Barbara X is please to announce the opening of her new private practice . . .
Location: 4452 South Edgewood Terrace, Fort Worth, TX 76039
Telephone: 817-446-6869
Hours: Monday – Thursday
9 a.m. – 5 p.m.
New Clients & Referrals Welcome!
And, even better . . . follow up your big announcement by hosting an fabulous open house – inviting your friends, colleagues, and potential referral sources – to meet the psychiatrist you will be sharing an office with and to show off your great new location, too! (On Thursday, I’ll be talking with you about how to host a flawless open house.)
If you’ve already taken the leap to move into private practice, I hope you’ll take a moment to share your experiences and how you handled letting your clients know that they were welcome to follow you to your new office.
I really wish I would have thought to ask this question when I left my work place. I think this is an excellent way to not only politely let people know but a nice way to announce a new business ! Antoinette Morrison
First of all, I would never have thought to do that! Second, what a lovely idea! Having an open house. You Southern gals are all about the hospitality. :- ) Go, Tamara! Thanks for the great suggestion. I can’t really take any clients “with” me (as it happens, and it’s such a bummer), but I still love the idea of hosting an open house for people who could make referrals. In music therapy, I would think that would be twice as necessary- especially given the fact that not everyone knows what music therapy is and how it works. As such, I imagine a music therapy practice open house would also have to include some sort of lecture/demonstration. Again, thanks for getting the old neurons firing!
Hey, Roia! I’ve missed your voice here! Welcome back! Actually, I would think your open house would be much more fun to attend if you had all sorts of your instruments placed strategically out for touch and play. Perhaps even “require” that all guests at least pick up one instrument during the event and “play” something. Perhaps give out tickets for a door prize to those who were brave enough to do so.
You, as the host, could wander around more casually helping your guests mingle and explain how you have used a certain instrument (via your success stories). Of course, all your music therapist guests are also doing the same thing!
And, then at some point I think it would be fabulously memorable and fun if you “spontaneously” got everyone to erupt into some type of improvised community-building jam session! Maybe ask your music therapist guests to bring a simple instrument. And, by the way, now that I’ve just planned this all out in my head . . . . Is there any music therapist in Colorado who wants to invite me to their open house? PLEASE . . . ! Who doesn’t want to attend THIS ONE!?
(And, by the way, Roia, I hope you would have your CDs on display / for sale and someone responsible for taking up payments at your open house, too!) OK – can you arrange your open house to coincide with my visit to NJ? 🙂
I am leaving a group practice and opening my own – I can take the clients with me, but do I take their records? I won’t have their financial records, but the note files.
Hi, Norma! Now that’s a really good question! I’m not an attorney and I would encourage you to consult with one for five minutes rather than taking anyone else’s word. However, I suspect that you most likely entered into some type of legal agreement with the group practice when you started. That contract may dictate what you can and cannot take with you. I it did not, then I would assume that the clinical records of of your clients belong to you. My understanding is that this is different if you work for an agency, hospital, or institution. And, you will always need to weigh what is in your clients’ best interests.
Again, I would recommend that you check with a mental health attorney just to be sure that you are protecting your client and your own best interest.
Norma, here’s how to add a “little me” photo to your comments so we can get more familiar with you! http://www.allthingsprivatepractice.com/how-a-tiny-picture-of-you-can-help-drive-traffic-to-your-website-or-blog/
Hello
I have a similar situation: I previously had a small part time solo private practice, and am moving to a more established group. The clients’ health records will be managed in a new EHR system. All my clients are coming with me to the group practice. Will I have all my existing clients sign new consent forms with the group’s name/information on them?
Oh, Danielle! Yes, this is a great question that many of us have had to grapple with.
Best practice is to re-do all of your paperwork to reflect the new name, new location, contact info, and any different / new policies that you may want to implement.
If you are actually joining a new group practice – rather than simply relocating your solo practice – there may be differences in some of the policies and practices that your new group practice will employ.
Think about practices around no shows, late cancellations, and absences (on your part or your clients), inclement weather policies, fees and payments, how to schedule appointments / reach you, etc. and make sure you discuss those with the practice manager as well as your clients.
And, once you get all your paperwork updated, make sure you actually have a discussion with each client and document their complete understanding and agreement; after all, the consent and disclosure process is not about getting your paperworks signed so much as it is insuring that your clients are fulling informed about the work they are entering into with you!
Thank you for this post!
I’m opening up my private practice this summer in August and I have been searching for appropriate ways to officially notify my clients. This is helpful! I like the Open House idea and I’m wondering how I would do that virtually as I will only be seeing clients via teletherapy. Any thoughts or ideas? All are welcome and thank you in advance!
Hi, Tiphanie! Congrats on the launch of your practice AND I love the idea of a virtual open house! If you can give me a couple of weeks, I’ll write up a blog post specifically for hosting a virtual open house! Thank you for the question! I’ll drop back in here to let you know when the post goes live.