When a Behavioral Therapist Leaves, Who Gets the Patients?

For behavioral health practice owners, losing a clinician can mean losing more than an employee. It can also mean losing the patients that clinician has been treating, often after the practice owner has invested in the infrastructure, administrative support, and referrals that helped build that patient caseload.

Too often, practice owners begin asking what they can do only after a clinician has announced a departure and patients have begun transferring. By then, options may be limited. The challenge is protecting the practice’s legitimate business interests without interfering with patient choice or continuity of care.

A carefully drafted employment or service agreement with a solid non-solicitation provision can establish boundaries around efforts to recruit patients away from the practice but having that provision isn’t enough. It must also be enforceable.

Patient Choice Versus Solicitation

Behavioral health presents a particular challenge because patients may have spent years establishing trust with a clinician. Professional and licensing obligations may also govern how clinicians communicate with patients about a departure.

Some practices choose not to include noncompete provisions in their agreements out of respect for these relationships. However, patient choice and patient solicitation are different issues. A clinician who informs patients about a departure and their options for continued treatment may be fulfilling professional obligations. A clinician who distributes business cards, or encourages patients to transfer, or uses practice contact information to recruit patients may be engaging in solicitation and may be in breach of contract for which there are legal remedies.

The distinction isn’t always obvious. In one case, a departing clinician disabled AI-assisted documentation during patient sessions, and the practice later learned the clinician had been discussing the departure with patients. In another, a clinician appeared on a new employer’s website and an online provider directory while still working at the original practice.

Neither circumstance necessarily establishes improper solicitation, but both demonstrate why clear expectations and professional conduct during transitions matter.

Contracts Must Be Carefully Tailored

A non-solicitation provision can restrict efforts to recruit patients without preventing clinicians from practicing elsewhere or treating patients who independently choose to follow them. But overly broad restrictions may be unenforceable. For example, prohibiting solicitation of every patient in a practice, including those the clinician never treated, may go beyond what is necessary to protect the practice’s interests.

Illinois’ Freedom to Work Act imposes requirements on certain employee non-solicitation and noncompete agreements, including compensation thresholds, consideration, procedural protections, and limits on unreasonable restrictions. Special protections also apply to mental health services for veterans and first responders.

Independent contractor agreements require particular care. Although some include noncompete provisions, restrictions on an independent contractor’s ability to work elsewhere may raise enforceability and worker-classification questions.

The point is not simply to include restrictive language, but to ensure that the agreement is appropriately tailored and legally supportable.

Prepare for Departures Before They Happen

Contracts are only part of the solution. Practices should establish procedures governing patient notification, treatment options, records transfers, and communications for when a clinician departs. Additionally, practices should review policies governing access to patient information and the use of it for patient recruitment. 

Professionalism matters on both sides. Practices should respect patients’ treatment choices, and departing clinicians should respect their contractual and professional obligations.

Practice owners invest substantially in building their organizations and supporting the professionals who treat their patients. They have legitimate interests in protecting those investments. The goal isn’t to restrict patient choice; it’s to prevent improper solicitation while ensuring continuity of care. That requires clear expectations, enforceable agreements, and a professional transition process established long before anyone announces a departure.

For further information, please contact us.