Episode 607: HIPAA After Retirement – How to Close Your Practice the Right Way

Welcome solo and group practice owners! We are Liath Dalton and Evan Dumas, your co-hosts of Group Practice Tech.

In our latest episode, we discuss the HIPAA responsibilities for therapy practice owners when closing their practice or retiring.

We cover:

• Common assumptions about responsibilities after retirement
• What determines your record retention length
• How long you must remain contactable after closing your practice and why
• The key functionalities you need to maintain, and the most economical ways to DIY them
• Outsourcing to an executor service as an alternative to the DIY approach
• Common mistakes that are made when shutting down a practice and how to avoid them
• Practice closure planning as part of client care planning
• Action steps to take if retirement is on the horizon

Listen here: https://personcenteredtech.com/group/podcast/

For more, visit our website.

PCT Resources

• Retirement Record Retention Checklist
  • a clear, practical guide to HIPAA compliance after retirement or practice closure. Learn what record retention laws require, how to honor clients' Right of Access, and which secure systems you need to maintain for the full retention period — so you can close your practice with confidence and integrity.
• PCT CE Course: Preparing For The Worst – A Professional Will Is Not Enough: Ensuring Continuity of Care In Event of Retirement, Death, or Disability
• Group Practice Care Premium
  • weekly (live & recorded) direct support & consultation service, Group Practice Office Hours — including monthly session with therapist attorney Eric Ström, JD PhD LMHC
  • + assignable staff HIPAA Security Awareness: Bring Your Own Device training + access to Device Security Center with step-by-step device-specific tutorials & registration forms for securing and documenting all personally owned & practice-provided devices (for *all* team members at no per-person cost)
  • + assignable staff HIPAA Security Awareness: Remote Workspaces training for all team members + access to Remote Workspace Center with step-by-step tutorials & registration forms for securing and documenting Remote Workspaces (for *all* team members at no per-person cost) + more

Resources

• TheraClosure (Professional Executor Services) — A therapist-founded service offering retirement and executor support for clinicians, including options for ongoing record retention and practice closure management. We mention them as one available option for outsourcing post-retirement HIPAA responsibilities. PCT has no affiliate relationship with TheraClosure and does not specifically endorse their services; clinicians should perform their own due diligence when evaluating vendors.