Syllabus

1. Using the Internet to communicate with clients

• • Where is my client’s information? Easily and simply understanding what is happening to sensitive client info when we email, text, make phone calls, or do a video call.
  • HIPAA and professional ethical standards around communicating by email, texting, phone, and videoconferencing.
  • Using security policies to keep client information confidential and safe2. Accommodating clients’ desire for unsecured emails, text messages, etc.
  • Clients’ privacy choices under HIPAA

2. The 2 things to take care of when sending unsecured emails or texts to clients

• • Setting office policies and working with clients around safety in unsecured email and texting
  • Client-centered secure alternatives to unsecure communications

3. Legal-ethical and practical issues in different client communication circumstances

• • Initial contact to start services
  • Exchange of intake-related forms and info
  • Administrative communications with the client, including billing
  • Telehealth sessions
  • Therapist-client communication between sessions
  • Releases of records, superbills, and other highly-sensitive documents to clients

4. Choosing services and using them to meet client needs

• • What goes wrong when we use the wrong services
  • Legal-ethical and client-centered needs in service selection

5. Record-Keeping Issues

• • HIPAA standards around retaining information
  • What to document about emails, texts, phone calls, and video sessions
  • How to document emails, text messages, and any other textual communications

6. Boundaries and professionalism in email and texting

• • Timing: When to exchange messages with clients?
  • Content: What to say in messages exchanged with clients?

7. Using Communications Policies to guide clinician and client through Internet-based communications