Legal and Ethical Issues

Legal and Ethical Issues
for Therapists in a Changing California
Curt Widhalm, LMFT

VC CAMFT Pre-Licensed Member / $90 
VC CAMFT Clinical Member / $110
Non-Member / $125
Registration after 7/12/24 / $130

Breakfast, Lunch, Snack and Beverages Included in Price

Description: Across California and throughout the nation, mental health advocacy has led to expanded access and rights for patients seeking behavioral health services. This means new opportunities and responsibilities for therapists to remain compliant with updated laws. This course explores new (and old) responsibilities for client documentation, access to records, MFTS serving as Medicare providers, and the interaction with technical advances such as artificial intelligence. 

Speaker Bio: Curt Widhalm, LMFT is the owner of Real Honest Therapy in Encino and West Los Angeles that specializes in working with teenagers and provides EMDR and comprehensive DBT. He is a member of the CAMFT Ethics Committee and a lecturer at California State University Northridge where he teaches Law & Ethics in the MFT program. Curt is also the co-host of “The Modern Therapist’s Survival Guide” podcast.

Educational Goal: This workshop is intended for licensed and prelicensed master’s level therapists with beginner-to-advanced experience to cover the foundations of clinical documentation, expanded practice through Medicare, ethical considerations for technology and artificial intelligence, and updates to laws for California MFTs.

Learning Objectives:
1  Describe three required pieces of a client record 
2. Identify three requirements for Good Faith Estimates
3. Critique three situations when clients request access to records
4. Distinguish three considerations for client privacy when using technology 
5. Translate two standards of minimal technological competency for therapists
6. List three laws for therapists newly effective in 2024

Syllabus

1. 8:30 - Check-in Begins

2. 9:00a - Announcements – 

3. 9:07a - Presenter Introduction – 

4. 9:10a – Whose notes are these anyways? Basics of documentation, informed consent what goes in the files, progress and psychotherapy notes

5. 10:30a – Break

6. 10:45a – I have to do what now? Good faith estimates, patient documentation, health information exchange

7. 12:15p – Lunch

8. 12:45p – Technology, Social Media, and artificial intelligence

9. 2:15p – Break

10. 2:30p – Legislative Updates: Medicare, California updates, BBS updates

11. 3:50p - Wrap up/CE announcements 

12. 3:55p - Closing

13. 4:00P - End

References:
American Psychological Association (2021). FAQs on the No Surprises Act and good faith estimates. https://www.apaservices.org/practice/legal/managed/faqs-no-surprise-act