Operating a clinic comes with additional responsibilities beyond client care. Below is helpful information for clinic directors or those therapists shifting into group practice.

If your clinic is going to offer care through university interns and/or pre-licensure externs (SWC, LPCC, MFTC) you will need either:

1) to apply to the RAEs and provide various supervision policy documents.  This is called "attestation." 

Here are three key documents.  You must provide attestation to each of the RAEs that you work with. 

RAE-prelicensure-policy-doc1.pdf

RAE-prelicensure-FAQ.pdf

RAE-prelicensure-attestation.pdf

or

2) obtain a "BHE" Behavioral Health Entity license, currently through CDPHE. 

For the RAE application, as of Sept 29, 2022 the requirements for the supervisor stand as:

The DORA rules for a supervisor apply (3 years post graduation, practice hours, supervision classes), and supervisors with stipulations will be reviewed case-by-case. 

Also, HCPF/RAEs have relaxed the requirement to supervise (co-sign) notes.  COMBINE did not ask for this relaxation, and recommends that university intern notes are read and approved.  Many COMBINE clinics also read and sign the notes created by post-graduate pre-licensure externs, and clinics should be cautious about allowing pre-licensure providers to sign their own notes. 

Behavioral Health Organizational Endorsement Application Forms:

• Colorado Access

Internship Resources

Professional Counselor Competency Evaluation with rubric for Internship:

• Naropa University Rubric
• Counselor Competencies Scales (CCS-R)

Information About Independent Contractors vs. Employees

• Information from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment about Independent Contractors

To create the presumption of an independent contractor relationship:

The writing or contract must contain the following clauses that both parties agree to and that, in fact, both parties act accordingly.

• The company does not require the individual to work exclusively for the person for whom services are performed, except that the individual may choose to work exclusively for the said person for a finite period of time specified in the document,
  
• The company does not establish a quality standard for the individual, except that such person can provide plans and specifications regarding the work but cannot oversee the actual work or instruct the individual as to how the work will be performed.
  
• The company does not pay a salary or hourly rate but rather a fixed or contract rate.
  
• The company cannot terminate the work during the contract period unless the individual violates the terms of the contract or fails to produce a result that meets the specifications of the contract.
  
• The company does not provide anything more than minimal training for the individual.
  
• The company does not provide tools or benefits to the individual, except that materials and equipment may be supplied.
  
• The company does not dictate the time of performance, except that a completion schedule and a range of mutually agreeable work hours may be established.
  
• The company does not pay the individual personally but rather makes checks payable to the trade or business name of the individual; and the company does not combine their business operations in any way with the individual's business, but instead maintains such operations as separate and distinct.