Thank you for getting back to me about my questions. Just a bit ofnclarification for me:So if I understand correctly, clients do not have the option to choosento continue with me if the practice has a non-compete. Even though Inwould not ‘solicit’ clients that are ‘owned’ by the practice, it isnsurprising that a client wouldn’t have the right to seek services from me should they choose.
I would presume that clients would be offered the option of seeingnsomeone else at the practice, but in the case(s) where a client wouldnprefer to continue seeing me despite alternatives presented, it soundsnlike they don’t have that right if the practice isn’t ok with it?This highlights the need for discussion with the employer when an associate is leaving.
I think you are generalizing to a somewhat distinct issue from the question as we initially saw it. We provided advice around ownership, given the associate is an employee of the private practice. It would be important and ethical for the associate to consider any contracts with their employer. The reason is that they could potentially be considered in breach of contract and the practice might subsequently raise concerns around Integrity in Relationships if an associate knew the expectations (or ought to have known them) and only took the perspective that the client had the right to choose without addressing the contractual obligations, and did not have a conversation with the practice around the the practice’s expectations beforehand. When NSRP had contacts in the past involving psychologists leaving a private practice, it has often involved differences of opinion between the practice and the psychologist leaving on the some of the very issues you have raised. If you have legal questions around contractual obligations and even other potential questions, we would urge you to take advantage of the pro-bono legal hotline available through your insurer. Ultimately, we cannot stress enough the importance for you to have an in-depth conversation with the practice owner and to work on an exit approach to address the most ethical approach in the various scenarios you might encounter when leaving the practice.
Now with all that said, of course a client can always decide to go to whomever they choose. However, this is really an incomplete consideration for the psychologist leaving (and would have been irresponsible direction from NSRP) when an associate is leaving a practice where they are an employee, given all of the points raised above.
The paperwork I was referring to is that I see some clients throughn3rd party so depending on the notice/exit plan, I would want adequatentime to close files or provide termination/progress reports to thencase managers. I wanted to know what obligations I had around this andnwhat obligations the practice would have for continuity of care – ornif it was more of a ‘work it out as best as you can’ situation.
In this case, the associate would be expected to complete the appropriate paperwork so that the files are in order when they leave the practice to allow for continuity of service.
