Case library / Records, confidentiality and the file
Revoked outright for how the practice was run
In short
License revoked outright. No stay, no probation - one of only a handful of unstayed revocations in three years
RevokedSeven causes for discipline. No sexual misconduct, no substance use, no clinical error alleged at all.
An outright revocation with no stay and no probation, and not one clinical allegation in the whole accusation.
What happened
A college student was told her sessions would be covered by insurance, based on the practice's website and a verbal assurance. She was then issued a superbill for $1,365 of out-of-network care her plan did not cover, and had to obtain an emergency grant from her college.
Six of those sessions were provided during a period when the therapist's license was not valid.
The practice advertised under a corporate name and a variant personal name rather than the name on the license.
A second client's attorney requested records. The request was ignored for six months, and part of the record was never produced at all. Duplicate charges and charges for sessions that never happened were never explained or refunded. That client was then terminated abruptly, with no explanation and no referral.
A third family received superbills carrying invalid diagnostic codes. Corrections were promised and then not made, and the parent had to pause the child's treatment.
The Board investigator's calls, letters and emails went unanswered for over a year.
What it was charged as
Failure to cooperate with and participate in a Board investigation.
Willful failure to provide the client access to their own records.
Practicing without a valid license.
Advertising in a false, fraudulent, misleading or deceptive manner.
Gross negligence, a dishonest act, and failure to disclose the fee or the basis on which it would be computed before treatment began.
Gross negligence — abandonment, for the termination with no referral.
Recklessly causing emotional harm.
The outcome
License revoked outright. No stay, no probation — one of only a handful of unstayed revocations in three years.
OAH No. 2024090623
No cost recovery stated in the orderWhat the rule actually says
Every count here is administrative and every one of them is avoidable with a calendar reminder or a template. §4982(n) requires the fee, or the basis on which it will be computed, to be disclosed before treatment commences. Health & Safety Code §123110 gives a client the right to inspect their records within five working days and to receive copies within fifteen. §4982(p) requires you to advertise under the name on your license. And 16 CCR §1845 makes ignoring the Board its own violation, regardless of the merits of whatever it was investigating.
Discussion
Analysis, not part of the decision
There is no sexual misconduct here, no substance use, and no clinical error alleged at all. Seven causes for discipline, every one of them administrative, and the license was revoked outright — no stay, no probation, which puts this among a handful of unstayed revocations in three years of data. That combination is the argument for reading the whole case: the Board's most severe available sanction, imposed for how a practice was run.
Take the counts one at a time and each is preventable with a template or a calendar reminder. Section 4982(n) requires the fee, or the basis on which it will be computed, to be disclosed before treatment commences. Health & Safety Code §123110 gives a client the right to inspect records within five working days and to receive copies within fifteen — here a request from a client's attorney went unanswered for six months and was never fully answered. Section 4982(p) requires advertising under the name on the license. Six sessions were provided while the license was not valid.
The count that turned a difficult case into a hopeless one is the last. The Board investigator's calls, letters and emails went unanswered for over a year. Title 16 §1845 makes ignoring the Board its own violation, independent of the merits of whatever was being investigated. Every other count here had an explanation available; silence removed the opportunity to give one.
Where insurance reaches, and where it does not
The single most instructive case in the set for coverage, because almost none of it is insurable. Fee disputes and failure to collect or pay money are explicitly excluded on therapist policies. Practicing on an expired license is outside the coverage grant entirely — the policy insures professional services you were licensed to render. Board defense would answer for the administrative case; nothing answers for the underlying conduct.
What would have changed it
- Diary your renewal, and check it. Six sessions on a lapsed license converted an ordinary billing dispute into a revocation.
- Answer the Board. Every single time. The failure-to-cooperate count is available in every case and it carries the same penalty range as serious clinical misconduct.
- Put the fee, the basis of the fee, and your out-of-network status in writing before the first session, and have the client sign it. §4982(n) is one of the easiest subdivisions in the statute to comply with and one of the easiest to forget.
- Respond to a records request in writing within the statutory window even if you are disputing it.
Questions
For a law and ethics seminar, or for yourself
- Audit a real or imagined private practice against the four administrative duties named above. Which would fail today?
- A client's attorney requests records. Diagram the deadlines and what must be produced at each.
- Why might the Board treat non-response to an investigation more severely than the underlying conduct?
Source. This write-up is drawn from the signed public decision in the case number above. Names, cities and employers have been removed — why. To pull the original, open the Board's quarterly newsletter archive, find the issue covering July 24, 2025, and match the case number in the Formal Disciplinary Actions section. Not legal advice.
