PersonCenteredTech, a renown training company for teletherapy practice and ethics, has added a bunch of emergency resources for therapists taking their practice virtual in the pandemic:

• Their front page is now a pro bono crash course with example forms! (as of Mar 17)

• They are offering a Quickstart Survey "Telemental Health Basic Starter Pack" - 8 CE Credits (NBCC + APA) - $143.20 - COMES WITH FORMS - for solo practitioners, “You only plan to do TMH work with existing, in-person clients. You will only be working with clients who are located in your state/jurisdiction of licensure during sessions. You already have an idea of how you will get reimbursed for telemental health services.”

• Their 17 CE credit (NBCC + APA) certificate course meets LMHC qualification requirements per AMCHA (16 credits); they're offering it at a discount, $319.

Mar 18: CMS has announced it is acceptable to practice via non-HIPAA compliant platforms. Full announcement: https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/special-topics/emergency-preparedness/notification-enforcement-discretion-telehealth/index.html. Relevant excerpt:

Under this Notice, covered health care providers may use popular applications that allow for video chats, including Apple FaceTime, Facebook Messenger video chat, Google Hangouts video, or Skype, to provide telehealth without risk that OCR might seek to impose a penalty for noncompliance with the HIPAA Rules related to the good faith provision of telehealth during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency. Providers are encouraged to notify patients that these third-party applications potentially introduce privacy risks, and providers should enable all available encryption and privacy modes when using such applications.

Under this Notice, however, Facebook Live, Twitch, TikTok, and similar video communication applications are public facing, and should not be used in the provision of telehealth by covered health care providers.

Doxy.me - Free HIPAA compliant platform for telehealth. Yes, they'll give you a HIPAA BAA with the free level. Pro level has additional optional features and is cheap. Extremely easy to use for both clinician and client. (Vanessa's recommendation: if you don't know what you're doing, just do this, it's free and fast to set up.) 3-16-20 1pm Update - working again, I was able to connect with decent video quality. -Brennan

VSee

Zoom - only HIPAA compliant with the $200/mo HIPAA version, apparently no waiting room feature. Awesome backward compatibility, if you have clients with super-old computers.

Spruce - Paid phone and fax platform that also includes HIPAA-compliant video platform

SimplePractice - Includes built-in video platform

MyClientsPlus & Jituzu - Includes built-in video platform

Amber Lyda's quick start video with the basics for getting going. Look in the comments for links to a free checklist. Quick Start Video with Amber Lyda

Many HIPAA-compliant video platforms have been intermittently crashing over the last couple of days. The Dept of Health and Human Services has released a statement saying they will NOT be penalizing providers who use non-HIPAA compliant communication technology in a good faith effort to treat clients during this time:

“The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for enforcing certain regulations issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA)… OCR will exercise its enforcement discretion and will not impose penalties for noncompliance with the regulatory requirements under the HIPAA Rules against covered health care providers in connection with the good faith provision of telehealth during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency. This notification is effective immediately.

“A covered health care provider that wants to use audio or video communication technology to provide telehealth to patients during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency can use any non-public facing remote communication product that is available to communicate with patients. OCR is exercising its enforcement discretion to not impose penalties for noncompliance with the HIPAA Rules in connection with the good faith provision of telehealth using such non-public facing audio or video communication products during the COVID-19 nationwide public health emergency. This exercise of discretion applies to telehealth provided for any reason, regardless of whether the telehealth service is related to the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions related to COVID-19.” Announcement here