The Business of Practice: Are You and Your Practice at Risk? | What you don’t know could hurt you (LA District)

Presenter: Elizabeth Irias, LMFT

Description: 

This presentation will provide an overview of some of the serious (and preventable) liability issues therapists face and may not even know it, regardless of whether you are in private practice or work in an agency. Do you know what Best Practice is, in relation to progress notes and treatment plans? So often, we therapists get so caught up returning phone calls and responding to client emergencies that our clinical documentation takes a backseat.

The Business of Practice: Are You and Your Practice at Risk? | What you don’t know could hurt you is a comprehensive presentation that is geared at increasing your understanding of the liability factors that come into play with your clinical documentation, as well as improving your documentation practices in order to keep you, your clients, and your practice safe. This presentation also offers clinicians insight about how integrating Medical Necessity into documentation practices can both improve the quality of care you provide and improve the authorizations granted by third‐party payers like managed care companies.

Learning Objectives:

This course is designed for psychotherapists (both in private practice and agency environments) who provide care to individuals who have behavioral health disorders. This presentation will cover the following topics:

• Some common ways in which therapists unknowingly put themselves at risk in relation to documentation practices
  
• Best Practice with regards to clinical documentation and how it influences client engagement and treatment outcomes
  
• Strategies for clinicians about how to conceptualize Medical Necessity and Best Practice and integrate them into different clinical documentation components
  

Upon completing this course, participants will be able to:

1. List three or more legal and ethical implications of inadequate clinical documentation practices
   
2. Identify three or more key components of quality clinical documentation
   
3. List two or more definitions for the term 'Medical Necessity'

Elizabeth Irias is a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist with specializations in Utilization Review and Quality Assurance, and also the founder of Clearly Clinical , an online behavioral health Continuing Education program. As a consultant and trainer, Beth works closely with clinical teams across the country to improve their quality of care, documentation practices, and utilization review outcomes. She also operates a private practice in Westlake Village, CA, where she provides therapy to adolescent/young adult clients, members of the LGBT population, and those with addictive disorders. A previous graduate professor at Pepperdine University, Beth is a skilled professional public speaker and presenter. She is an approved Continuing Education provider with CAMFT, CCAPP, and CPA, which allows her to offer relevant and engaging Continuing Education opportunities to California therapists, social workers, addiction counselors, and psychologists.