The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide with Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy Antitrust for Therapists
Mar 4, 2019
35:08
Curt and Katie talk about antitrust laws – how they impact therapists, how to avoid concerns, and what to pay attention to when you’re a therapist.
It’s time to reimagine therapy and what it means to be a therapist. To support you as a whole person and a therapist, your hosts, Curt Widhalm and Katie Vernoy talk about how to approach the role of therapist in the modern age.
In this episode we talk about:
- Sherman Antitrust Law
- Why antitrust laws are important
- Looking at insurance companies and the discrepancy that therapists are more held to antitrust than insurance companies for complicated reasons
- Therapy practices are businesses and in competition with each other
- Price Fixing and Market Share agreements
- The problem and risk with group boycotts
- The difference between colluding and discussing publicly available information
- How competition discussing fees in small Facebook groups can lead to price fixing
- The Cardigan Cartel
- How to communicate fees and discuss insurance issues without getting into antitrust issues
- Individuals on insurance panels are still competitors
- How Antitrust can be anti-consumer
- What the risks are for discussing pros and cons of different insurance panels
- How to avoid anti-trust problems
- Why you should talk to an attorney if you’re concerned
- How interstate commerce relates to antitrust and how Insurance Plans can play a game to get out of all of this
- The differences between employees who can strike and separate businesses banding together
- How Single-Payer relates to this topic
- How associations play into this and why they can survey their members on fees and other aspects of their businesses
- The difference between being responsible as a business owner and following the trends
- Sharing information, without making decisions and planning together
- How often therapists or other healthcare providers get in trouble for antitrust concerns, as well as related licenses
- Publicly available information is safe to discuss
- Share information, but don’t put a call to action to do something with your colleagues