Mental health professionals who use the internet have an obligation to insure the privacy of their patients and remain within the various standards of practice and prevalent laws so that their communications promote patients care rather than acting as an impediment to consumers receiving good care.
This series will examine the concept of anti trust or anti competitive activity and explore the legal, ethical and practical implications of mental health professionals discussing and comparing fees in any forum but particularly in online internet discussion groups bulletin boards and listservs. It is the forerunner of a series on fees in mental health which will follow.
This series will cover the following topics:
What is antitrust activity?
For whom does anti-trust apply?
What are the legal issues?
What are the ethical and practice issues as well?
What is meant by Per Se anti-trust violations ?
What is the rule of reason?
All are invited to participate in submitting reasoned opinions. We are however particularly interested in the participation of attorneys, academics, trade association officials, discussion group and listserv owners and of course consumers. To be part of this panel please write to johnr@psychjourney.com.
The panelists will be asked to comment on the following scenarios among others.
Sharing fee information on fees, period. That is simply one or more providers announcing to others what they charge and nothing more.
One person sharing their fee information followed by one or more others suggesting, inferring or accusing that they the fee mentioned may be "undercutting" the accepted rates.
Calling for, threatening to or actually acting in a way which providers collectively would decline initially to participate, or de-participate, in fee-for-service health care delivery unless fees were set at certain levels.
Perhaps one of the best clear explanations of ant--trust laws are those of the American Psychiatric Association AN OVERVIEW OF ANTITRUST LAWS AFFECTING PHYSICIANS. See http://www.psych.org/psych_pract/pract_mgmt/antitrust.cfm
If you have a point of view or are interested in participating or would like to offer comments, or suggestions, please contact me at johnr@psychjourney.com.