In today’s video, we talk about how a health coaching disclaimer is different from a medical consent, and when you should use one versus the other.

Hi, I’m Michael H. Cohen, founding attorney of the Cohen Healthcare Law Group. We help healthcare industry clients just like you navigate healthcare and FDA legal issues so you can launch, or continue to scale, your health and wellness product or business.

In other videos, we talk about the fine line between health coaching on one hand, and on the other hand, professional services such as those offered by a physician, licensed behavioral health therapist, chiropractor, acupuncturist, nurse, dentist, or other healthcare professional.  We also zeroed in on the Consent & Disclosure form.

We further cautioned that, while a Consent form may be required under State law, and, it might even protect you from a patient lawsuit, this form alone does not necessarily protect you from charges of unlicensed practice of medicine, or possibly, unlicensed practice of psychology.  For that, please refer to our videos and blog posts about the limits of health coaching and the places where you might inadvertently cross the line into practice of professional services.

Now, let’s talk about the differences between a Health Coaching Consent and a Consent that you sign with the physician.  First, one involves coaching services and the other, medical services.  That’s pretty obvious, perhaps, but, note that the description of services for health coaching should be fairly watered down so as to avoid running afoul of broad prohibitions against practicing “medicine” or “psychology.”  The law considers “medicine” to include “diagnosis” and “treatment” or “prescription” relating to “disease,” and the law defines each of these terms, including “disease,” very broadly.

But while we’re here, let’s also talk about unauthorized practice of “psychology.”  Couples therapy, family therapy, brief therapy, and depending on the State, even hypnotherapy could all be considered the practice of “psychology.”

Like the medical consent form, the health coaching consent and disclaimer, whatever we call it, should contain a clear description of the risks and benefits of the proposed therapy or service.

Where our clients limit themselves to very specific niches in the medical consent form, we often disclaim primary care because we state that the physician is not providing primary care services but instead has a more limited role. Maybe it’s functional medicine, maybe something else.

But, we also include risks and benefits of telemedicine.  Of course at this point telemedicine is widely used, so this language becomes more and more routine after time.

We might include language acknowledging that the physician has not made any claims or guarantees of cure.   We might have an arbitration clause, by which the parties agree that in case of a dispute, no claim will be filed in court but rather the process of dispute resolution will be arbitration.  We may have a section that purports to limit the liability of the provider.  These are just some of the bells and whistles some of the provisions we put in to do our best to protect the provider.

Thanks for watching. If you still have questions, click on the link, cohenhealthcarelaw.com/contact. Here’s to the success of your healthcare venture, we look forward to working with you soon.