A podcast where we help mental health group practice owners ethically and effectively leverage tech to improve their practices.
Group Practice Tech will drop episodes about weekly — 4 times per month, to be exact.
Episodes will be everywhere from 5 minutes to an hour, depending on what we’re talking about. We let the topic set the length.
Liath Dalton is PCT’s director and a co-owner. Liath is especially passionate about helping therapists be resourced and supported in navigating the security compliance process and identifying the solutions and processes that meet the particular needs of their practices. Liath’s consultation area of expertise is focused on selecting the right combination of services and tech that not only meet the legal-ethical needs of mental health practices, but also the functionality, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness needs as well.
Evan Dumas works in the space between mental health therapy and tech support, and is a senior consultant at PCT. His aim is to help workers everywhere cope with the occupational hazards of burnout and compassion fatigue by normalizing that terrible feeling of overwhelm when things go wrong.
With a background in IT, Evan has spent time as the Oregon Counseling Association’s tech chair after PCT’s late founder Roy, while getting his MA in Professional Mental Health Counseling from Lewis and Clark. When he wasn’t helping counselors adapt to technology, he has given talks and workshops on burnout and compassion fatigue all around Oregon.
We discuss:
A proposed change to the HIPAA Security Rule, and how it will impact group practices
OCR resuming their HIPAA Compliance Audit program
Updates on telehealth provisions and exceptions for Medicare and important dates to know
Updates on the Counseling Compact and the Social Work Licensure Compact
Upcoming regulatory changes for AI use and our current recommendations
We discuss:
How the feature works and pros and cons compared to similar software
Whether this new feature is HIPAA compliance compatible
What Google Workspace tiers include this new functionality
Usage guidance for this new feature
Our free Google Workspace Resource Center where you can get more support
We discuss:
Instances of monetary HIPAA penalties
Sharing login credentials between workforce members vs with unauthorized third parties
The importance of multi factor authentication
Using the Google Authenticator app for MFA
We discuss:
The recently revealed hack of major global telecom providers
The difference between secure communications and non-secure communications
The difference between HIPAA secure and HIPAA friendly
How clients can opt out of secure communications
Which VoIP services are HIPAA secure (and which major one isn’t)
Reframing HIPAA security as client care
We discuss:
Security policies around network security and device security, particularly BYOD policies
How Private Relay works, and its limitations
How Private Relay is similar to a VPN (and how it is different)
What functionality is required for network and device security
Private Relay alternatives and their limitations
Our recommended VPN service
We discuss:
The common anxieties around corporate/VC owned telehealth companies
The incentives these companies use to lure clinicians
The cracks starting to appear in these companies
How the rate cuts will impact clinicians
How the rate cuts will impact group practices and solo practices