The issue of what to do about obtaining consent from clients/patients for group therapy has come up in a couple of my recent HIPAA seminars. So I decided to draft a sample Privacy and Confidentiality Informed Consent for Group Therapy. It is now available on our Premium Member section of this website. As with all of our other sample policies, procedures, agreements, and forms, this file is editable so that you can customize it for your particular situation.

For those of you that have acquired a year’s subscription to our Premium Member section but have not yet activated your subscription, you may find that you need to call us for help with your activation. You can call us toll-free at 855-341-8783.

For those of you that would like more help complying with HIPAA in a mental and behavioral health practice setting, I have just finished writing a new book called “Mental and Behavioral Health and HIPAA: An Uneasy Alliance.” It is now in the editing and production stages, and we expect it to be available by mid-April. This new book focuses on the following: Security Rule and Privacy Rule compliance; HIPAA’s complex individual right’s standards and disclosure standards; how to have group therapy sessions without violating HIPAA; how HIPAA protects psychotherapy notes; ways to help patients understand their rights; how to disclose your client’s mental health condition to your licensure agency; and much more. We are currently offering a prepublication special of $20 off the regular price of $99.95, plus shipping and handling of $7.95. Again, call us toll-free at 855-341-8783 if you are interested in taking advantage of this prepublication special offer.