Case library / Records, confidentiality and the file
The address of record
In short
License surrendered
SurrenderedA separate, chargeable violation for not telling the Board where you are.
The shortest case in the library, and the structural reason so many of the others contain a failure-to-cooperate count.
What happened
The accusation charged gross negligence and failure to cooperate with the Board's investigation — and, as its own separate count, failure to maintain a current address of record with the Board.
The license was surrendered.
What it was charged as
Failure to maintain a current address of record with the Board.
Gross negligence.
Failure to cooperate with the investigation.
The outcome
License surrendered.
No cost recovery stated in the orderWhat the rule actually says
16 CCR §1804 requires every licensee and registrant to keep a current address of record on file with the Board, and it is the address the Board uses to serve you. This is the shortest case in the library and it is here for a structural reason: an accusation served on a stale address is still served. The failure-to-cooperate count in most of these files begins with letters that went to an address the licensee had moved out of.
Discussion
Analysis, not part of the decision
There is almost nothing to this decision, and that is why it is here. Alongside the substantive charges sits a separate count for failing to maintain a current address of record with the Board. Title 16 §1804 requires it, and it is the address the Board uses to serve you.
Follow the consequence. An accusation served on a stale address is still served. The clock on a response runs whether or not the envelope reached a human being. Read the failure-to-cooperate counts across the rest of this library and a striking number of them begin with correspondence sent to an address the licensee had moved out of — not with a decision to stonewall.
It is a fifteen-minute administrative task that quietly determines whether you get to participate in your own case.
Where insurance reaches, and where it does not
Nothing to insure and nothing to defend. Worth noting that several therapist policies also require notice to the insurer at your current address, and a missed renewal notice is how claims-made coverage lapses.
What would have changed it
- Update your address of record within 30 days of moving, in the BreEZe system, and separately from your public practice address.
- Do the same with your malpractice carrier and, if you are an associate, with your supervisor of record.
Questions
For a law and ethics seminar, or for yourself
- What is the practical difference between a licensee who refuses to answer the Board and one who never received the letter? Does the record distinguish them?
- List every entity that needs to be told when a therapist moves office, and the deadline for each.
- Why does the Board make the address a licensee's duty rather than attempting service by other means?
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 April 4, 2024, and match the case number in the Formal Disciplinary Actions section. Not legal advice.
