Hi, this is Dave Kats with Therapist Consultants, and I have a tip for you.

A lot of people ask, as therapist, what type of business entity should I be? There are various types of entities. You can be a sole proprietorship, you can be an LLC or an LLP, you can be a corporation of some kind, but I'll tell you the most common kind is some derivation of the LLC. That's the most common kind.
Now, if you are real small and only going to see one or two or three people a week, perhaps you can stay as a sole proprietor. If you're going to be seeing more than just a few people a week, if you're going to be a real business, so to speak, I think you'll want to form an LLC. You can form an LLC in different ways. You can have an attorney form one for you. It's going to cost you somewhere between $1,000 and $2,000 probably.
You can form one through Legal Zoom or Rocket Lawyer or something like that. That's going to cost you probably $250 to $300, and that's a good way. Or you can literally do it...

Hi, this is Dave Kats, therapist, consultants and I have a tip for you.

We're often asked how you use a business associate agreement. Let's back up and start this way. First, you have to be HIPAA compliant. One of the many things you have to do to be HIPAA compliant is have a business associate agreement. A business associate agreement is an agreement that you give to anybody that you do business with in your practice that has the opportunity to see your patient records in any way, shape or form.
If you have, for instance, a software company that could look in your computer and see your information on your patients, they have to sign a business associate agreement. Now, the business associate agreement a few years ago, it was only a page long, but in the final rule, they made it a lot longer agreement and now it's about five pages long and the value of having a business associate agreement is this. If the business associate that comes into your office, see something in your office...