Ethical obligations after a termination

[KKrak002]

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I was recently let go from a position at a private mental health agency. After being let go, I was told that I was ethically obligated to complete all my uncompleted work. Now I know this is true for progress notes (they are up to date) and I assume therapy transfer summaries, but my question is if I am ethically obligated to write testing reports for cases in which I administered the tests. All scoring is complete and notes for the testing sessions are also complete. Feedback has not yet been given to the clients. There are other psychologists at the company who are competent to write these reports. I was not let go from the company due to late or incomplete paperwork.

Additionally, in my contract, it clearly states that all client information is property of the company and all services are rendered through the company. The insurance company/clients were billed for all allotted testing hours (including writing/scoring hours). I was an employee and paid a salary and was not paid based on the services rendered. The company was paid directly for the billed service. I just want to make sure that I am not putting my license (I am a doctoral level psychologist) in danger if I do not get all of the reports written in the time they have given me to complete them (10 reports, 3 weeks- I did a lot of face to face testing in the last three weeks, leading to this number of reports) and if I am ethically obligated to complete all of this work. Finally, they want me to send them an electronic copy, and someone else will sign it and complete feedback. I am not sure if my name will remain on the report as the person who administered the tests or not.

Does any one have any advice or ideas where I may be able to find information on ethical obligations after a termination?

Thank you!

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

I was recently let go from a position at a private mental health agency. After being let go, I was told that I was ethically obligated to complete all my uncompleted work. Now I know this is true for progress notes (they are up to date) and I assume therapy transfer summaries, but my question is if I am ethically obligated to write testing reports for cases in which I administered the tests. All scoring is complete and notes for the testing sessions are also complete. Feedback has not yet been given to the clients. There are other psychologists at the company who are competent to write these reports. I was not let go from the company due to late or incomplete paperwork.

Additionally, in my contract, it clearly states that all client information is property of the company and all services are rendered through the company. The insurance company/clients were billed for all allotted testing hours (including writing/scoring hours). I was an employee and paid a salary and was not paid based on the services rendered. The company was paid directly for the billed service. I just want to make sure that I am not putting my license (I am a doctoral level psychologist) in danger if I do not get all of the reports written in the time they have given me to complete them (10 reports, 3 weeks- I did a lot of face to face testing in the last three weeks, leading to this number of reports) and if I am ethically obligated to complete all of this work. Finally, they want me to send them an electronic copy, and someone else will sign it and complete feedback. I am not sure if my name will remain on the report as the person who administered the tests or not.

Does any one have any advice or ideas where I may be able to find information on ethical obligations after a termination?

Thank you!

If this is time sensitive and you truly feel that your license is in jeopardy then I would contact a lawyer in that area and discuss it with them.

 

[Doctor Eliza]

I'd contact your state board. At least in my state, you could talk directly with the chair and he would give you guidance on the ethics of the situation.

Sorry you are in this spot. 🙁

Dr. E

 

[xXIDaShizIXx]

I'd contact your state board. At least in my state, you could talk directly with the chair and he would give you guidance on the ethics of the situation.

Sorry you are in this spot. 🙁

Dr. E

Actually that might be a better idea. Sorry I'm relatively new to licensing authorities.

 

[G Costanza]

So if they let you go, and you're not taking the client's with you, I assume you are going to bill them for your time?

 

[PsychevalIII]

Sorry to hear you were let go. I pay my lawyers $185 an hour, which adds up fast so I personally would not hire an attorney in this situation. To me, if I were you, what could be concerning is how the company billed for your time. Did they use the 96101 CPT code which pays for administering the tests, interpretation, and reporting (not scoring). Hopefully they did not bill for your report writing time before you actually wrote the reports which could put you in violation of a contractual obligation with an insurance company which could be bad (billing for services not yet rendered in the form of no test report being written) in case of audit. I would personally write the reports and move on with my life instead of having it drag out for a year with the licensing board or whatever.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

Sorry to hear you were let go. I pay my lawyers $185 an hour, which adds up fast so I personally would not hire an attorney in this situation. To me, if I were you, what could be concerning is how the company billed for your time. Did they use the 96101 CPT code which pays for administering the tests, interpretation, and reporting (not scoring). Hopefully they did not bill for your report writing time before you actually wrote the reports which could put you in violation of a contractual obligation with an insurance company which could be bad (billing for services not yet rendered in the form of no test report being written) in case of audit. I would personally write the reports and move on with my life instead of having it drag out for a year with the licensing board or whatever.

I agree--this is likely what I would do as well, although I'd also look into billing the company for my time (if I hadn't already been provided with the time to write the reports while still on salary). If they didn't agree to pay, then yeah, that seems like it'd be much "stickier." Checking with your state behavioral sciences regulatory board (as previously suggested) could be the way to go.