Name: AI and Your Clients: Building Trust Through Transparent Communication
Uploaded: 2025-08-13T19:31:37.072Z
Duration: 1 h 11 min 54 s
Description: AI and Your Clients: Building Trust Through Transparent Communication

Transcript for "AI and Your Clients: Building Trust Through Transparent Communication": Hello, and welcome, everyone. So excited to have you all today as we talk about AI and your clients, building trust through transparent communication. We're gonna briefly introduce ourselves before you give we give a little bit of an overview of what we will cover today. Excited, to, have this time with each of you, though, so thank you for joining. My name is doctor Lindsey Oberleitner. I am a clinical psychologist, and I am the head of clinical strategy here at Simple Practice. I saw a handful of Michiganders, in the chat, so I'm excited, to have you as well. I'm here, in Metro Detroit. As we talk today, my own background comes from a mix of private practice myself, working in health settings, working in community mental health, and here at Simple Practice, really supporting as we think about, representing clinical needs and clinical ethics and directions that we need to go to continue to support the clinical field. And I wanna pass it over to Ally Hartley. Hi. Thanks so much, Lindsay. My name is Allie Hartley. I am the chief legal officer here at Simple Practice. I am honored, to lead the teams that, provide legal, security, privacy, and fraud detection, and prevention within the product. So super excited to be here. I am a lawyer by trade, and I have been practicing law in the health care industry for my nearly twenty year career. I'm from the Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area, and I see a lot of Californians here as well, so super excited to see that. And then lastly, I'll just say, I I am a practicing lawyer, and I wouldn't be a very good one if I didn't also say that, you know, anything that I share today should not be taken as direct legal advice for you guys. You know, you are responsible for making sure that you are complying with all applicable laws and regulations on your own and make sure you're working with an appropriate attorney to do that. So, you know, I I provide legal advice for the company, and not for you guys directly, but just wanted to say that again. I wouldn't be a good lawyer if I didn't do a disclaimer. Thank you so much, Allie. And, as we go through today, again, I wanna take the time to welcome you and know what an important part of our work this is for all of us in the in the field as we're thinking about beginning to integrate AI into practice. And one of the things that we always wanna make sure that we're doing, at Simple Practice is providing as many opportunities to to bring, you all together and to share information and education where we can on on pieces that may make that transition easier. For those of you who wanna take up AI in your practice, for those who are not yet sure and need more information, we're really here to support you wherever you are in your journey, with considering AI in in your practice and your clinical world. You know, we think just as we take this, standpoint that transparency is really a core part of how you can think about engaging with new things like AI. We wanna help in being sure that we give you ways to think about transparent communication with your own clients. This is part of our own commitment to trying to make sure that we give you what you need to be empowered to make the choices that you wanna make. Of course, we are also interested in continuing to build for those who are interested in using AI in practice, continuing to build, tools that can support you more. So we have recently released note taker. Some of you may have heard and heard a little bit as we got started today, which is the ability to use documentation, AI based documentation that can help you. And we'll continue to grow and build in these areas, and we continue to hear as you if you are with us in those first moments as we kicked off, continue to hear, all individuals who are using our tools or interested in to make sure that we're, giving you both the tools that most fit your needs and making sure we hear you about how it works best in your practice. So in our note taker tool we have so far, we're continuing to grow in things, to be able to generate those notes and minutes, ensure it feels and sounds like you. And we will soon have tools like dictation so that even if you aren't interested in recording live sessions, it doesn't work for you and your client. We continue to grow tools that may work in that way. With that, we're gonna go through four sections. We're gonna talk about understanding AI and behavioral health. We're gonna talk about communicating transparently with clients, adapting informed consent processes, and navigating legal and regulatory considerations. So with that, we are gonna get into our first section unless unless there's anything else that I've missed or you wanna add as we get started, Ally. No. Thanks. I think I can I'm happy to kick off the first section here on just understanding AI and and behavioral health practice. So, Lindsay, can you help our audience understand a little bit about what we mean by AI in the context of behavioral health practice today? Absolutely. You know, as we're thinking about AI, this is a topic that we can't avoid in our personal lives and definitely more and more within behavioral health. So when we think about AI, we're thinking about a technology that can perform tasks that were typically, requiring human intelligence in the way that it can capture large amounts of information. It can help us to be able to make new insights based on those large amounts of information and process things for us. These types of tools, as AI gets applied within behavioral health, can vary widely. And one of the things that that we think is really core as you'll hear more about being able to talk with your own clients is making sure that you have the information that you need to understand what AI really is and what it can and can't do right now. When I think about AI in behavioral health, I like to think of it within the frame of that range of how much interpretation or inference is being made. So, I'm using some of my my thoughts and how I think about assessment broadly in clinical practice and thinking about it with AI. At the most basic level, AI can engage with behavioral health tasks that helps just take information and put it into the format that you want. Something like, when we're thinking about being able to take notes and record a session. The next kind of middle ground is being able to reorganize that in new ways, right, and give us new ways of looking at information. The most intensive would be thinking about ways that it can actually change practice, make recommendations, do things differently. When we think about any other tools in behavioral health, they're gonna fit somewhere along that line. And understanding where it fits and how much it's just reorganizing info for you versus getting far much farther into that side of actually engaging in client care, making predictions in that piece is really important as we start thinking through what does consent mean. So I think that's an important part. We also, at Simple Practice, really believe deeply, myself included, that human centered therapy really is the core. So continuing to figure out the ways that we think about AI as supporting practice, not as a replacement of. Right? We maintain as clinicians being the core of mental health practice, and we maintain as that oversight of any AI that gets used in our practice as well. It's there to support, not to take over any of the tasks, even when it gets really good at tasks like taking notes. So, that is also why as we're thinking about development, there's a whole range of things we can do in that area. Right? We can think about note taking. We can also think about how can AI help us with optimizing our schedule. Another thing about, being able to get more insights into things that maybe are less of those clinical decisioning even, right, and far more on that side of these are hard things to maintain while you're doing clinical practice and trying to optimize a schedule, take care of billing, do all of those pieces that AI may have a really solid place to support us with. Awesome. That's really helpful. Thanks, Lindsay. Can you share some of the potential benefits and limitations that practitioners should be understanding about AI tools in their practice? Absolutely. I think when we're thinking about benefits, some of the biggest things that where we are with AI right now is really improving the administrative efficiency. How quick you can get some of those tasks done that you can guide and you can oversee. So things like reducing documentation time. Right? So being able to actually see that not to not to eliminate. Right? Notice how I'm very, deliberate in the choice of reducing time. We still have an oversight process. But one of the things that we've heard is this even reducing some of those burdens and putting that energy in the place that really helps when we're thinking about documentation and administration. So for example, I used to find it really, really challenging to spend that time and organize my thoughts and develop that note, but I find it really exciting when I think about the role that I used to have supervising, many clinicians. Being able to oversee note development felt different. I thought about it at a different level. So it's getting efficient using your energies where it is most effective, but spending less time on the kind of creation and hard part of it. A little more consistency too in documentation and treatment planning. It can be really helpful in ensuring not just that we complete those things, but that we complete them in ways that meet those standards that we need, to meet, whether it's for billing, whether it's it's for our own maintenance and ethics and our license. Right? But ensuring that we get those things done, they're completed in a way that's consistent from client to client, and we know that we can trust those things. Also, I think another big benefit of AI, again, talking broadly, not just in documentation, but overall, is that it can reduce some of those energies that we need to spend in administration and allow them that time to either be spent, with more focus on the direct client interaction if we're not as busy having to take those notes during session is one example, or just reducing those burdens so that we have more time to ourselves as well because some of those things take a whole lot of energy. And reducing burnout. Right? These these are the tasks that really can drag us down. I share from my own prior experiences with note taking and documentation and aging myself. I remember starting when it was still entirely paper records at the setting I was in. And I remember just sitting and being so upset with 40 files surrounding me trying to figure out how I was gonna move forward. So reducing that burnout to take away the things that are harder. But there are very real limitations that we can manage but need to be addressed and and thought about when using AI. One, there is a potential for bias in AI systems based on how they're developed, based on the information that they see, and ensuring that there's consistency of how information is used and that it doesn't introduce more bias. And we have a really active role as in as clinicians right now in being able to correct and notice where those problems are. The truth of the matter is, unfortunately, a lot of our clinical data, I don't mean right now like data being collected, but our research is based in some bias. And AI can help us get out of that, but we need to be aware, and we need to notice when those things are coming up. There's a real need for a practitioner review of AI generated content. It is not without error. Right? We do need to ensure that those special skills that we have all developed are part of what that lens goes back to look at any AI generated content regardless of what you're talking about, whether you're talking about helping you with marketing, whether you're talking about, doing documentation. Technology has real limitations in understanding cultural nuances. When we think about things like assessment, we may we have all been trained in ways that we, we notice that there's certain questions we ask on assessment tools that we know culturally do not translate in the same way. And although, again, I think there's real hope because we as humans hold bias too that we can eventually get to the point that AI is helping to recognize that. Right now, we need to be aware, and we need to be sure that things are continuing to develop in a way, that is helpful. And finally, really thinking about there is a varying degree, not just of clinician comfort ourselves, but also client comfort in using technology, period, and what the thoughts about AI are and how they consider AI in the broader world context and what it means to them to bring that technology into the session room. So I think those are just they are limitations that we can manage, but we need to we need to know about and we need to be aware. Awesome. Thanks, Lindsay. I'm gonna pause for a little bit of a plug here. So if anyone's interested in learning more about, evaluating whether particular AI tool is appropriate for your specific practice, we do have a CE course that's available until the September, and is linked in the docs tab on your screen. And so we'll give you you know, it's a wonderful Lindsay here talking again, but it will give you some great tips on on evaluating specific tools. So thanks for that, Lindsay. Okay. So the switching gears a little bit, I wanna, talk a little bit about transparent communication with clients. So, Lindsay, what should practitioners know about the AI tools they're using before they have conversations with their clients? It's a great question. I think that at the core of of being able to have transparent communication is building our own knowledge and understanding. Does that mean that every one of us, every clinician needs to, get to the point that we're an AI expert? Absolutely not. Right? But what it does mean is that we have the understanding of the tools that we're using of AI at a base level. Right? What we mean by AI, what it's capable of, what it's not capable of. But also, really about the tools that that we want to use and ensuring that we have a base understanding of what is it doing, how far does it go again in that range of, like, is it just repackaging info that we've given it, or is it actually making interpretations, and where is this falling? So I really think that we can't do those next steps of transparent communication if we don't build that first. Amazingly, everyone here on this call is engaged in it right now. You are willing to spend some of your time on, I'm sure, a busy middle of the weekday taking time to think more deeply about what AI means to your practice. This is the big step we all are learning together. Just like going back a few years ago, we were all learning more in-depth about telehealth together. It really is a core part. I think in that, it's not just it so step one is getting that knowledge, taking that time, take those courses, read about information that helps you understand what AI is and what it isn't. But then also being really clear about what it means to you and your practice. What are you hoping to solve by using AI? What does it fix for your practice or make easier for your practice? And being really clear for yourself about those future intentions of how you wanna use it, how it benefits you, what limitations it has, and then also being able to translate that to your client's experience. How does this benefit your client, the way that you're considering using tools in your practice right now? So, you know, I think that that, again, it's this broad frame of do you know enough about the tool to talk about it? You can think of and probably before you start holding conversations, what are the types of questions that you think a client may come to you with? And then really being sure that you can answer that. This is how it works. It does it engages with our process here. Right? So if we're talking about a note taker feature, documentation feature, it may be a recording during session. Right? And this is where it sits, and this is kind of how you think about the safety of the data. So making sure you've gathered all of that info. You've asked those questions. You've read those, FAQs on any product that you're interested in using that integrates AI. Awesome. Thank you. So when should practitioners first introduce the topic of AI use and then practice with their clients? I think this question has to start with a little reflection usually on how we intend AI to be used. So for some of you attending today, you might think, like, AI is gonna be used throughout your practice. This is core. You're excited. You are ready to integrate it, and it's gonna be a pretty consistent part. For other people, you might be feeling a little bit more like this is something you're considering. There are certain clients that you want to bring it in with, but it's not gonna be a universal part of what you do in practice. I think these are really important as you start because I mentioned this because for some of us, if we fall on the side that we're like, AI is core, like, this is where I'm heading with my practice. It has been so helpful or I see it being so helpful. I know I'm gonna use it. I think when we're talking about someone who falls on that end of the spectrum, you wanna start by including this even in your marketing. Right? Like, this is the type of practice I run. I think engaging with AI is really important from the start. Right? And being able to let people know so that just like we try to give as much info as we can to potential clients about a match, this gets us a little bit farther. Also, I think that the next step of considering is whether, these are you are gonna start using with clients who are already ongoing or new clients who are new to your practice. It's a pretty easy, thing to consider when you're talking about new clients, being able to engage right from the start. Right? And this may include, things about when you provide information about your practice, and it may include that very first session, especially if you're gonna use AI to begin. Right? We wanna have those conversations before we start that process. So getting started then. The transition might be harder for our ongoing clients. They're used to working with us in a certain way, and being able to give them that time to transition is different. Right? When you're just starting with someone hearing that they might use AI, it might be expected. You're you're learning about what that practice will be. But when you're used to it working in a certain way, you you might feel this as a much bigger shift. You're used to talking with your clinician without recording. You're used to, the way that things are, and there might be deeper questions about how things will shift in your process. An example could be saying things like, as a part of my commitment to providing efficient care, I use secure technology tools to assist with some of these administrative aspects of our work together, and I wanna explain how they work and answer questions about them. Starts off the conversation. Right? That's just engaging and beginning. That's super helpful. Thank you, Lindsay. So you you've talked a little bit so far about, you know, that that importance of transparency. So what specific aspects of AIU should practitioners explain to clients to ensure that there is that transparency there? I think this is this is the really important question that we all have to work through, right, which is knowing so we've already talked a little bit about that part of being transparent is starting with your base level of knowledge. I think the next important part is being really patient centered. So in many ways, the best conversations start with something that opens it up, like, I'm I'm beginning to use AI as part of my practice. But I wanna hear what your thoughts are about AI. There is just like none of us can avoid conversations about AI right now, our patients haven't avoided those conversations either. Many have started to to build those perspectives before they've walked into your room. They've heard about it in AI and health care. They've heard about, the ways that we're seeing health care broadly change and specifically mental health perhaps as well. So being able to to build that and determine if there's hesitation right from the start. I think if there is hesitation, from our clients or a no from our clients, being able to dig deeper into what some of those concerns are. We'll talk a little bit more about some of those typical concerns in a moment. But some of the things that you need to be able to know and discuss is being transparent about kind of where AI will be used and where it won't be used in your practice. So, is it actually interacting with the client's sessions? That's important to say. Right? It's recording. This is part of it. Or, this is something that I use external. So use it going back to the example of dictation. Right? It may be that it's not sitting with you and client, but it's processing information about you and client. Another really important thing to be able to explain is how you think about how information about your client is used, protected, and and stored when using AI. So, again, there's a big range. If you're using this to develop homework sheets that are not specific to a client, that's very different, right, because you're not putting information about your client specifically into AI. But when you're thinking about client information being, used and stored, in those settings, it's important to understand what are the requirements that are met by the tool and actually digging deep into those. Is that tool HIPAA compliant? Do they follow the same rules? Are is it a health care product? And can you know a little bit more about what information you need to be able to share about where that information is, how long it's maintained, and how it's used. Another really important part to address and just going through the list of where we should make sure we engage our clients is the role of the practitioner in reviewing AI generated content so that this is not something that stands alongside you working in parallel, but that you actually engage with that AI tool and that you oversee any of those decisions. So you can imagine there are many fears that clients can understandably face about decisions being made without you. They build the trust with you. It takes time to build trust that AI is a part of your practice, not something they externally have to trust. And then, also, to think about how it aligns with the ethical standards of the profession. Many of us sit under different ethical guidelines, but they all address things about transparency. They all address things about, being client centered in some way and understanding and providing options. So being able to go back and review that, being able to tell your client where you sit alongside this decision making, I think, is really core to this piece. And, Al Awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Thanks. I the one other thing I just wanted to add, here is that we're gonna talk about this in a little bit more detail later, but, if your state has any specific legal requirements around informing clients on the use of AI, you'll wanna make sure that the manner in which you explain your use of AI complies with those requirements. So we'll get we'll get into that a little bit. So we talked to you you mentioned this briefly before about some of the common concerns that might come up in these discussions. So how can practitioners address these concerns about AI use? Great question. I mean, this is this has to be a core part of that of that process of informing and engaging your clients. Right? I think that when we say the word informed consent, we mean it especially as we go back to some of our ethical principles as the real emphasis is on the informed piece from an ethical standpoint. Right? And that if they have concerns that we address those concerns. Right? Informing them about what they need to know. Common concerns, not, not surprising, that typically come up are things like privacy, data security, and data retention. Ask any product that you're gonna use for those pieces of information. How do they protect health information? How long do they store? How do they store that information? Is it stored in systems that, that you can trust and is HIPAA compliant and does, meet those standards that we need to meet for health care? So there are tools out there that are not built for health care that would not be would not need to comply in the same way, and we need to know and be able to answer that. I think another concern is often either it's a it's a combination of both reduced kind of personal attention that somehow AI is taking over part of those things that that client hopes to come to you and trust or already trust. And, also, you know, just thinking about that shift that it can feel, like the tool is taking control. And I think being able to emphasize about your role in this piece, being able to emphasize as a clinician that you remain the direct care to your client, and these are tools to help reduce some of those burdens that actually take your attention away at times. And being able that this can allow you greater time for reflection on the on on any given client, not take away from it. Another common concern is just accuracy of the content. Right? So when we imagine it's not that AI is without error. I'll share my own my own child recently went to an urgent care, had an x-ray, and the initial read is done by AI now. And it flagged an area that we were not there for. Right? But the clinician came in who was overseeing and said, here's why it can inappropriately flag at times. Here's where we know the area is and why we need to follow-up. This doesn't typically happen. Right? Most of those errors are getting ironed out, but there was someone overseeing it and ensuring that you both pick tools that reduce that error rate, right, that you think about that as part of your evaluation and being able to share that that's part of it with your clients, but, also, that you maintain that ultimate responsibility. Right? This is on your license. This is on your ethics, your requirements, and you will always have that ability to change, to edit, to take and leave what works and doesn't work for you with AI and your practice. So continuing to really build on that, this is a tool AI are tools that support and not replace that clinical expertise. Thank you. We talked a little bit about varying comfort levels of of use of AI among the clients. So how can practitioners adapt their communication about AI for different client populations? I think it starts. One of the big things is, being able to say what what has been their experience with AI. Right? So we right off the bat, there may be many of our clients who have already used AI. In fact, as we see research that shows individuals seek support and conversation and all of these things from AI products, they might also also already be using AI. That's a different level that I wanna take. Right? In fact, the hat that I shift to sometimes with that type of conversation is more I wanna make sure they're aware of the limitations of AI and how I oversee it if they're really excited to begin with versus other clients who maybe are less engaged with, technology. They aren't someone who has typically chosen to maybe even engage with telehealth or use your online portal or engage with technology at all, and there are very real reasons for that. Right? There are individuals that are, really, really not interested in using technology. Their concerns, the hat that I I switched to in those conversations, is really making sure that they understand the the potential strengths of being able to use AI and it and solve any misconceptions. Right? That AI is, you know, depending on the tool, hopefully not. You know, just giving information freely out in the world. Right? Like, how information is removed, how information is protected, how their personal information is stored. We have many reasons in our world to worry about those things when we see, data breaches and those pieces of things that become front and center for clients. So being able to address those, why you pick tools that are health care focused, why you pick tools that you can trust, have that ability to ensure safety, and go deep to ensure that safety. So ensuring that piece is there. There's also cultural variations just in the experience of technology and decision making that maybe there have been negative experiences they have had already with the way that techno they have interacted with technology and used it. I also think that we need to think about very carefully about accessibility needs for clients who, maybe are experiencing, disabilities that interfere with the way the tool could you could be used and making sure that we find ways to keep that accessibility and continue to grow and tailor it for those reasons. So I think the really key thing to me with this question is always coming back to starting with that conversation. How do you use it? What has been your experience? What are your fears about it? And being able to think about each of these different areas and how it might how you might address it. Awesome. Thanks, Lindsay. So let's let's get into the meat a little bit of, like, of informed consent. So what are the requirements for informed consent, and what specific elements related to AI should practitioners consider adding to their informed consent documents? Absolutely. I think that as we talk about this, again, informed consent is what, what we're talking about in this piece means that we have ethical guidelines that require informing clients about the use of AI. That requirement, as Allie will share a little bit more about as well, is not necessarily that there is a assigned document requirement everywhere. What the difference is is that you talk about it, that you're insparent, that you let them know that you're using AI when you're using it, how it gets used in your practice, what client information gets engaged with the tool, that you have oversight, and that a client always has the right to ask questions, or, change their mind about their use of tools. Right? So that there is a there is a check back in that you can make sure it's working, that there are times that someone may say, like, this no longer works for me, or I've thought about it and now it does. So there's an ongoing process. What it doesn't mean, though, we do need to ensure accessibility. There is a range of reasons that some people may choose to say, I use AI in my practice. And as I bring in new clients, I bring in clients that are okay with my approach to practice. That is okay as long as you are choosing to find ways to facilitate connection to care other ways. It may also be true that you allow some flexibility. Some clients you allow to use AI, some you don't. That really comes down to you as long as you have guaranteed those pieces of information are included. So, Ali, wanted to talk a little bit more about the legal requirements around informing clients around the use of AI. Could you share a little bit more about those pieces? Sure. So, just like the technology is advancing super, super fast, the legal and regulatory landscape around the use of AI is really, really rapidly evolving. In fact, just earlier this month, we saw the first state pass a bill that requires consent around the use of AI certain AI in therapy. So Illinois, if any of you happen to be in Illinois, you may have heard this. But Illinois just passed a law that among other things states that if a session is recorded and transcribed using AI, the therapist must inform the clients in writing that AI will be used, specify the purpose of the of the AI tool or system and obtain that explicit consent. Also, and that is, you know, that consent can be revoked by the client at any given time. So given this this new law, we actually, have prepared a sample consent form, that will be shared on our Pollen blog and also emailed as a follow-up to this live stream. So I I know this has been something that folks have been asking for, and we're happy to be able to to do this now. You can also join our Facebook community to receive updates on this topic. There's a link in the docs tab on how to join the Facebook community. Just a quick note that if you do use the sample form, you know, you will need to review and edit it to make sure that it meets the requirements of your state, if your state has that specific requirements. And Illinois is the first state that we're aware of to legally require this explicit consent and the use of AI. But, again, as I mentioned, things are rapidly evolving, so you wanna continue to keep an eye on your state because as I mentioned, you know, things can change really quickly here. So with that, Lindsay, how, should practitioners document, you know, other than what I talked about it being, you know, required in writing in some states? But if it's not required there, you know, in a certain state, how can clients document this consent or refusal regarding the use of AI in their practice? Great question. Because, again, since not everyone may be gathering, signed consent when it's not required, some of the processes are really just the way that we document that we did any any particular process in our treatment. Right? Which would be including that documentation in a progress note, being able to say, you know, discussed with client, you know, potential usage of AI, client reported, refusal of interest in using AI in practice. Right? So including it in that progress note with the clients that are just beginning, that might be in that initial kind of note that you document on the process. Right? And being able to continue to document and keep tabs on kind of who has consented and who hasn't. I think that is important. Right? Because this again, when we go back to ethical principles, it's about ensuring that conversation happened. We do wanna document it happened if we don't have assigned consent. I do think that, you know, many people, do recommend that it is really important to at least acknowledge that conversation having occurred. And, you know, as we're thinking about this, what are some of the potential consequences of inadequate informed consent regarding AI use? Yeah. Great question. I think, you know, and you can definitely talk to this too. But but first and foremost, that comes to mind for me is sort of that damage to a therapeutic relationship and client trust. You know? We talked a lot in this session, and, Lindsay, you've talked a lot about, you know, that transparency and how critical that is to building client trust. And if you're not, you know, sharing all this information about how and why you're using AI in your practice, you really can damage that trust, you know, if your client finds out you're using it behind the scenes and didn't know, you know, they they they may lose that trust in you. On top of that, you know, there are potential ethical violations under professional codes of conduct for failure to obtain, informed consent. You could have clients complain to you, complain about you to various licensing boards. There could, you know, be professional liability concerns, if, you know, you are using AI to help drive clinical decision making and you're maybe not you you may be going outside the standard of care or something like that and it creates professional liability for you down the road particularly if your client wasn't aware that that was part of the process, of your decision making. And then, you know, finally, in states where there may be legal requirements around consent, there may also be fines attached for failure to obtain that consent. So for example, on Illinois, violations of that new law can carry up to $10,000 fine per violation. So really critical that that you're having these discussions and documenting it. Amazing. Thank you. I think that's really helpful in understanding, like, what are these risks again and and making sure we we are staying up to date with what we need to do. I do think I saw a couple of questions and just wanted to I can't track them all in the chat, but did see some questions about do we need to what about consent if we're not recording the session? Right? So when we're talking about informed consent about the use of AI, I think as whenever one of the one of the clear lines that I think across our ethical principles is once we're using client information, right, to do something, so whether that's a recording or not. So recording is different. Right? There are requirements about recording and consent across states, but did wanna address that question because I think it's an important one that we may not have explicitly said as well. And, Ali, wanna jump into a little bit more information about some of the legal and regulatory considerations that, that we may all need to have as we're as we're all adapting to this AI world. So first, I wanted to ask you what current privacy laws most significantly impact how behavioral health practitioners can use AI tools? Yeah. Thank you. This is a really, really important question because so much of, you know, that trust that you're building with the client, is built and your client knowing that you are safeguarding and protecting their information. So really, HIPAA remains the primary federal framework around protecting sensitive health information. And so how that plays into the use of AI tools is if you're working within an AI tool and you are sharing protected health information in that tool, HIPAA applies. And so you'll wanna make sure that, the vendor you're using with that AI tool, is HIPAA compliant, that you've signed a business associate agreement with that technology vendor. You know, that is legally required under HIPAA that anytime PHI is shared that there has to be a business associate agreement in place unless there are a few exceptions within that rule. That wouldn't apply to the AI tools. And then then additionally, sort of within the HIPAA regulatory framework, there's this thing called the security rule. The security rule, sets forth very specific, like, technology and physical requirements on how vendors and, you know, business associates, protect electronic, you know, protected health information. And so you'll, again, wanna make sure that any vendor you're working with, if you are sharing PHI within that that AI tool, that they are compliant with those security rule requirements as well, that's really critical to making sure that that PHI is protected. In addition to HIPAA, many states have additional privacy laws that govern the sharing of sensitive data and and put requirements and protections around such sharing. So for example, California has a CCPA, there's New York, many, many states have additional privacy laws. And so again, similar to with HIPAA, you wanna make sure that you and any vendor you work with also understands those specific state obligations. And then finally, some professional licensing boards may have additional requirements around the use of AI. You know, how you can use it in your practice, what sort of we've talked a lot about the consent, how you share it. So just make sure you're you're keeping track of those types of things too. Amazing. And I know you started talking some about HIPAA compliance, but wanted to make sure to also ask how can practitioners ensure HIPAA compliance when using AI tools in their practice? Yeah. So, you know, we talked about this, but first and foremost, just make sure that that vendor, you know, who's providing the AI tool is HIPAA compliant if you're showing PHI. A really great way to do that is to check to see if they have third party validation of their HIPAA compliance. So for example, HITRUST is a common third party sort of certifying, body that will go out and verify that, you know, as a completely independent third party that a vendor is HIPAA compliant. So that's always a really great thing to look for if a vendor is HITRUST certified. Again, I mentioned this execute make sure that you're executing a business associate agreement with the vendor if you're using PHI in that AI tool. Another thing you wanna do is, make sure you're training any staff that you work with on appropriate use, of data within the AI within AI. So for example, if you are using a tool, an AI tool where you are not executing a BAA and you aren't sure whether that vendor is HIPAA compliant, you know, you'll wanna make sure that you know and you train your staff that PHI cannot be input into that tool or used in that tool. And then secondarily, you know, if you are using a tool that is HIPAA compliant, you've executed the BAA, and, you are using PHI within that tool, you wanna use the minimum necessary PHI in order for the tool to to perform its service. So that is one of the requirements under HIPAA that you could you only share the minimum necessary protected health information that's needed for what for the thing that you're doing and using that tool for. The other thing, Lindsay talked about this a little bit earlier, but you do wanna understand what the vendor is doing with the data. So where are they storing the data? Are they storing it in encrypted, places? Is it stored, you know, via encrypted way? How long are they storing data? What if anything any other things is the vendor doing with the data, and did you give them permission to do that? So these are all really important questions to ask of of any AI vendor, as you're evaluating HIPAA compliance. And I'll just kind of, you know, end with saying at the end of the day, you know, you really wanna work with vendors that not only understand the various legal obligations, but believe in and demonstrate that ethical AI starts with putting you in control of your data and, you know, work with vendors that are committed to transparency, privacy, and protecting your data and your client's data every step of the way. Amazing. And that is really helpful in being able to think through. Thank you, Ally. And I and I know I saw a couple of questions. Just wanted to make sure that as we talk through these things, and Ali and myself are sharing some of these pieces of information today, we wanna make sure to give you the context that we know some people may choose to use Simple Practice tool. Yes. We are HIPAA compliant and HITRUST as a as a platform in anything that we, do including notetaker. However, we wanna make sure in these conversations, we're giving you the tools to evaluate if there are external tools also that you're using. So as you hear us today, I just wanted to make sure that that piece, that piece was clear. And I know I can't catch all comments, but I thought that was an important one to at least mention. And the next question, Ally, what variations in state regulations should practitioners be aware of regarding AI use in behavioral health? Yeah. So one of the first one that comes to mind, beyond you know, we talk I talked a little bit previously about HIPAA and, like, state specific privacy data privacy laws. But But beyond that, you know, one of the things that comes to mind for me is, there are a number of states that have what are called all party consent to record states. And what that means is that if you are going to be recording a session, and a lot of the AI scribe tools do do this, that's how they work is they record the session then transcribe it, that there is a requirement that you obtain consent, to to record someone else. So an all party consent law state means that not just one person needs to know that they're being recorded, but all people who are subject to that recording need to know that they're being recorded and consent to being recorded. So similar to, you know, the AI consent form that we're gonna be posting, we do actually also have a consent to audio record form available for you to look at and tweak and use as needed if you're in one of those states. You know, I I would say also think make sure you're thinking about licensing board positions on technology use. Those are gonna vary state to state. And like the actual legal laws and regulations, you know, licensing board positions are rapidly evolving around the use of AI. Well, we are not aware of any explicit prohibition on the requirements to disclose, to boards directly. We do know that AI and mental health, you know, is being rapidly discussed, so you wanna make sure you keep close eyes on this. For example, Massachusetts was thinking about they didn't actually do this though, but, one of the therapy boards there was thinking about adding a requirement that you have to disclose to the state board if you're using AI in your practice. That ended up not being the case, but we know that this is definitely a hot topic for state boards, licensing boards as well. So just keep an eye like of your finger on the pulse of that. You know, in addition to, you know, privacy laws and disclosure laws, things like that, you know, we are seeing emerging AI specific regulations in some jurisdictions. So I mentioned Illinois, Nevada also has a recently passed law around, you know, the use of AI in therapy and, you know, how it can be used for administrative support. And then depending on the type of AI tool that you may or may not use, there's are some additional regulations in New York and California and Utah that apply when AI might be interacting directly with clients. And so, really, the most important thing is to just, you know, depending on where you live, just make sure you're keeping a really close eye on the evolving laws in your state. Thank you, Ali. And and a huge one right now as we think about, like you mentioned, AI is growing so rapidly that we're all trying to keep up, right, including, states and, regulations, and then all of us trying to keep up with those pieces. So really help, really helpful to hear some of those overviews, and where things might come up. Another question for you is what are the potential liability considerations when implementing AI tools in behavioral health practice? Yeah. So, Lindsay talked about this a little bit, but, you know, when when you're using AI as a tool in your practice, it is really important to remember and keep in mind that, like, the AI is not becoming responsible for the practice. You still are. And so, you know, you still maintain that both ethical and legal, obligation to provide the care to your clients. And so, you know, if you're not keeping track of that, there could be some professional liability, related to errors and AI gen AI generated content. So for example, if you're not reviewing outputs for accuracy, or for, you know, you know, you're you're just relying in totally on any suggestions that AI may make and not reviewing it and using your own professional judgment and your knowledge of your client and your historical interaction with your client. You know, if you're just taking that and running with it, you know, it it without so your your, view, it could be considered a deviation from the standard of care, and there could potentially be professional liability associated with that. You know, you also have the responsibility associated with ensuring appropriate AI use within your practice. So we talked about HIPAA and data privacy, obligations. And so if you, you know, you need to make sure that you are keeping track of all that, working, you know, have the BAA in place, making sure that people are health compliant. Ultimately, if they're not and you're putting PHI into the tool, you know, there could be responsibility, accompanied with that for you as well. And then finally, you know, there are some considerations to to take into account with, malpractice insurance. So, you know, we are seeing, you know, similar to licensing boards and laws, like, we're seeing, insurance carriers who who are in charge of malpractice insurance make a lot of changes and what how they're thinking about coverage. And so they might have, you know, you should take a look at your policy. They might have things in there that wanna, you know, make sure that you're disclosing to your insurance company that you are using AI in your practice, and that could impact your coverage, right, if you don't disclose that. Or, you know, there there might you might consider getting additional cyber coverage in your practice. Those types of things are really important to keep in mind to to really, you know, make sure you're keeping track of that and and reducing any risk with liability. That's super helpful. Thank you, Ali. And the last question that I have for you, and then I know we are coming up on the hour, and we wanna I just wanna mention for anyone who potentially is signing up that there's some links to some of our articles. We are committed to continuing to bring chances for these conversations to give resources. So so please do check out the docs and some of the links getting shared in the chat as well if you're looking for more resources on this in addition to the recording of this, conversation. But what I wanted to ask, also, Ali, is how should practitioners stay informed about evolving regulations affecting AI use in health care? Oh, yeah. This is such a great question because we talked a lot about how things are changing so fast. So, like, everything's coming at you a million miles an hour and how do I, you know, how do I weed through all this and how do I know what's applicable to me? And there there are number of different ways you can do that. First and foremost, you know, monitor any professional association guidance that that you're receiving through various association groups or industry groups that you're a part of. You know, Lindsay and I are very well aware that most of these associations are really trying hard to monitor all the laws and sort of distill it for you and help you understand what applies to you and your practice. Another area you can look is, you can subscribe to regulatory updates. This is a little bit nerding out in the legal world, but, you can subscribe to regulatory updates from, the Department of Health and Human Services and also the Office of Civil Rights. So the Office of Civil Rights is the, is the entity that, you know, enforces HIPAA. And so they will often have, in this, you know, blogs and things that come out that could be really helpful for your practice as well. You know, participate, do what you're doing now, you know, participate in continuing education on on, you know, your practice on AI, on technology ethics, any you know, there's a lot of law firms that offer, free education related to, you know, legal implications of AI. And sort of on that note, you know, make sure your consult you know, feel free to consult with technology focused health care attorneys, who can help you navigate this as well. And then finally, a final plug is, of course, engage with Simple Practice's regulatory update resources. So, right now, we do post really important, regulatory updates on our simple practice Facebook community. So as a reminder, you can join that, that community. There's a link in the docs tab. So we encourage you to join that if you have not already. We do post important updates there as well. Amazing. Thank you so much, Ali. And, yes, just one other. I know at the top of the hour, many people may need to, may need to sign off. Hopefully, you have found some of this conversation helpful as we talk through what are these pieces that you need to evaluate for yourself and make sure that you're learning about. We're committed to continuing to finding ways that we can share information, education, tools, resources for you, and you'll see that we, there are some links to existing pollen articles if you haven't checked it out. As Allie just mentioned, we have a Facebook group where we try to share information as it does come up. There will be a recording of this session today available to you. I know we had a couple questions about that come up, and you will receive that via email. We also have an article coming up that will give, sample language specific to, consent. It's sample. Right? It's about applying it to your practice, the ways that you're going to use AI and how it fits, but we wanna support you in giving you that base information that you can then work from to make it fit for your practice. We can, answer a couple q and a questions, but, again, just wanting to acknowledge that I know many people may need to sign off. So thank you so much for your time with us. Anyone who's signing off now this morning, really appreciate. I loved hearing the conversation. The hardest thing for me is such a great conversation happening in the chat, and I don't get to see it all until we wrap up. But thank you. I love the engagement on this topic, and, we hope to keep coming back to you with more and more opportunities to talk these things through. So thank you so much. I am going to switch over for anyone who can stay with us to just a couple of questions. So, let's so, let's see. I am going to this, this is gonna be one for you, Ally. So I will share. And I know you touched on this a little bit, but just wanted to make sure, as the question comes up, if you just wanna hit on a few of those kind of key again, what should we be looking for? What are the federal so specifically federal regulations that protect this data and practitioners who use AI? Yeah. So right now, the the federal framework is is HIPAA and that regulates the, the sharing of protect of health information and so protect of health information has a very specific definition within the law. So yeah. So that, you know, any PHI that is shared, used in any AI tool, you know, you need to make sure that you and the vendor you're using are both acting in compliance with those type of regulations. Lots and lots to sort of go into there, but, you know, some of the biggest ones are that there are physical and technical safeguards around the data, and that you execute business associate agreement, if you are sharing the data with an AI vendor. And and by the way, like, when I say sharing the data, I I wanna clarify a little bit that, like, if you purchase a AI tool or if you're paying a subscription for an AI tool, in you are sharing the data. Right? Because the data is going into the tool and coming back out to you. And so that is sharing PHI under HIPAA, and all the obligations that go along with that are attached to that process. Amazing. Thank you, Ali. And I will I'm gonna share it, but I'll take this next one, which is, would you first email current clients to inform about AI and then have a conversation with them or bring it up in session? And when would you bring it up with new clients at consult? So, I know we touched really briefly on this, but I think these are some great follow-up questions to that. Would you first email current clients to inform them? I think this really comes down to there is not a right or wrong as far as our ethical guidelines go as far as we're thinking about these pieces. I think it's knowing your clients, and this may differ not just by each of us as a clinician, but actually by the clients we're working with. And if it's a current client that you already have a good relationship with and you know there's someone who really you know, some of us are very high for need for information, right, as we make decisions. There could be really good reasons to be able to give them that info in advance. I that, though, that emailing in advance would not take the place of the conversation. Right? So that's the one important thing I do wanna say that the informed part is much like any of us that ever worked. I I always put on that, like, I used to, like, with doing research studies. The informed part is, like, did we talk about it? Did they get that chance to ask questions? So whenever I go back to informed consent, in my mind, I'm thinking, did they have the opportunity to ask any and all questions and really feel like they had the chance to ask those questions, that it wasn't just assumed that it was gonna be okay, and it's like a checkbox. Right? But this is more about that space for the conversation. So that's the frame I always like to hold with it. So if you think your clients are, like, ready to hear about it, maybe you've mentioned, like, oh, I'm considering these tools, and then you're like, hey. I'm gonna email you some info, but then we're gonna talk about it. The core to me is just making sure that talking about it does happen. With new clients, I would again go back to, like, how core to your practice is this? Right? We never want people coming to our practice and we're kind of we're like, this is actually this is how I practice. There's not variation on this, like, I'm an AI first practice. We, you know, can talk about and work around it or I can refer you out. If it's more of that style for you, I think it's really important to bring it up even, like I mentioned, for some people being this is part of what they describe their practice as before that first session even happens so people have that awareness. Most of us are probably somewhere in the middle that it's like, yes. I use it when a client consents, and is interested and okay with it, but I don't use it in other circumstances. And it's okay, and I'll still see clients, and I'll have a mix on my caseload. If you're more than that, I think it really is that first consult. Right? We don't want there's no reason to surprise people with something that we know may be divisive right now that some clients are gonna have really strong feelings. Most probably don't. Right? As I saw even in the chat, many people have been surprised how many clients are actually okay because it's already happening in broader health care regularly. Again, I've had multiple experiences myself. Right? But I think that because of that, because there are some people who have very understandable strong feelings, making sure that that's early in the process before there's a deeper connection if this is really important to you and your practice so they don't feel taken by surprise. So great question, and thank you for asking that as well. And let's see. Maybe we'll go with one more question. I know what I what we are answering, just for anyone who's hanging on here with us, we have really extensive FAQs about notetaker, and we really wanted to make sure today that we are, really trying to give information that fits broadly across multiple tools. So there are some specific ones we can make sure that you have the links to, links to documents to answer those questions as well. And, here's a question, Ally, that I know we've been asked before that I think, I'd love to put up to you as well, which is how is AI collected data from sessions protected from subpoena in court cases? Is there a chance that insurance companies can or will be able to access this data? Yeah. This is such a great question. And, I will try to answer it broadly, but I'll also answer it with with respect to sort of how Simple Practice is thinking about this because I do think this is a really important piece of information for folks to know. So so broadly, you know, what I'll say is anytime you share data, particularly PHI and session data, with anyone, a court or, insurance company, you know, in some cases, insurance is a little bit different because they they're always they're often just auditing things for, billing compliance. So so sort of less concerning. But if there's a court case or something happens and there's a subpoena issued to that person with whom you've shared data, they have a legal obligation to produce any data that they have that is responsive to that subpoena. So subpoenas are often, you know you know, they're drafted in a way that, you know, in compliance with HIPAA, like, the minimally, you know, sort of similar to what HIPAA does. Like, they're they're really getting after the information that they need. So it's it's, you know, never really a broad subpoena that says, give me everything you have on x y z client. You know? And and and if that were the case, you know, no one would would respond to that subpoena because that's just overly broad. So when a subpoena comes in to someone who has data that is responsive to that subpoena, they have to produce it. So this sort of goes into the the next part of that is, you know, when you're looking at an evaluating AI tools, you really wanna understand how in the how for how long they're storing data. Because if you are giving session data over to an AI tool and it's being stored indefinitely, you know, a subpoena could come in and that might be responsive to that subpoena. So with Simple Practice, the, you know, the way that we have addressed this is that, you know, in our AI notetaker tool, when a recording is completed, a transcript is created almost I mean, it's like within a few minutes. The transcript is created. The recording is then deleted so that the recording could not be responsive to a subpoena. That transcript, is then sort of lives in the product and is secure and is used for no purposes other than for you to be able to check that transcript against the draft note that the note taker has created. So it's not accessed by anyone. It's secure. No one's able to get into that besides you and your, and your teammates if needed or if necessary for sharing that. And and so it's kept there for, until you sign and lock the draft note, in which case, it's automatically deleted or seven days, whichever is later. Is that right? Whichever is later. Either seven no. No. Whichever is sooner. Sorry. I switched that. So it's so it's seven days, the maximum that a transcript will be kept. So if you haven't signed and locked your progress note within seven days, it will automatically be deleted. So we are maintaining that information for your purpose so that you can, you know, confirm that the that the draft note is accurate, but we're keeping it for only a very short period of time to reduce the potential challenge, you know, problems that come up with subpoenas that may come in. I'll also note that, you know, as a company, we will never just respond to a subpoena without you knowing about it. If a subpoena comes in related to you or a client of yours, we always work with you to make sure you know that that is happening, and, and and we work with you to to to be responsive to that subpoena. So, you know, don't don't be out there worrying that that all of a sudden we're sharing data without your knowledge of it. We you know, as Lindsay mentioned, you know, we take the position that, you know, we wanna be really transparent with you around data usage, storage, all those things, help you be transparent with your clients about it. And so that, you know, constant communication is really important to us. Amazing. Thank you, Ali. And I did see some comments too in trying to this is part of me trying to sort which ones were note taker specific and so apologies if I've hit a few that or missed a few that, have some high up votes that we can answer. This is a really close follow-up to the one that you just, asked, not about subpoena, but specifically about recorded information. So I'll, I'll start this up and then, maybe we can do one more after this before we, wrap up. So, one of my IT professional clients expressed concerns that recorded information is tied to the client profile and that's not confidential. I didn't know how to address this. Can you address this concern? So as Allie just mentioned, when we're talking about the actual recordings, that is deleted quickly. Right? So if you sign that note, that it that audio recording is deleted. Audio recordings don't get maintained. And even if you don't sign and lock that note, they're deleted at that seven day mark. I would also say I'm guessing behind this is also the idea of kind of the transcripts and what's recorded. So also want to in in transparency, we don't record any of that past that time right now because we wanna make sure that everyone has the ability to opt out before we allow that. So we've talked about this in some of our, prior note taker specific live streams as well, and you can find information about this in our FAQs also. At that point, what we're doing, the reason that we're ensuring that opt out is possible, that you don't have any of those transcripts recorded, but that also one of the biggest from a technology background standpoint is that we're ensuring it actually is fully, detached from that client profile, that we can remove all data that would go back to identifying and ensure that it is not in any way recreatable to connect back to the individual. But with that, I would pass it to you, Ali, if there's more you wanna add specifically about kind of our process with that. Yeah. No. But I did wanna actually add one thing that I saw come up in the chat on my prior question around, you know, information holding privilege. So, you know, there there are, you know, client, patient privileges under the law, which means sometimes, like, something that is subject to that provision. Every state has different rules of evidence around whether something can be reduced or not or is privileged information. You know, it's very familiar with attorney attorneys and clients have all the same privilege information. And so, you know, that's one of the reasons why we work with you if any subpoena comes in to understand, like, is there any privilege at play here? You know, do you want to assert that privilege instead of, you know, us producing it? That's type of stuff. So, I just wanted to to add that add that note in. Amazing. Thank you, Ali. And I said it looks like a lot of the the other, uploaded question that I've seen have come really close to this kind of what really happens to our session notes after we accept and sign the notes. So that again, I just wanna highlight with that as I see it come up a few times is that when you accept and sign those notes, right now, both audio and transcript are fully deleted. And we do when we do have the ability to store the transcript, again, you will have the ability to opt out of that process. You'll also, be made very well aware when that becomes available. And at that point, it is truly disconnected from, client and aggregated. So I just wanna make sure to address that as well. One quick question that I'll throw up, and this will be our final one, and we will make sure again that you continue to get tools to answer some of these other questions that have come up, and you will receive an email with some follow-up information, broadly about this consent process. But the last question I'll put up here is, is notetaker covered by existing BAA for HIPAA compliance? And I'll pass that one to you, Ally. Yes. It's a simple answer, and, yes, it is. Your the BAA that you've executed with us, notetaker falls within that. It is HIPAA compliant along with all of our product, which is HIPAA compliant, and HITRUST certified. The highest level of certification that you can get, we have we have that. Amazing. Thank you so much, everyone, that has stayed on with us longer. We really appreciate your engagement with this topic, and I know we couldn't get to all the questions. Hopefully, we started getting at some of these really, really, I mean, value the time that you took to spend with us. We were really excited to get to share out information with you. Hope that some of these pieces can really help you start thinking about different ways as you evaluate your own practice. We, again, will be moving some sending some info along to you, including the recording of this, but also that information, some pollen articles, specifically, that we already have up, some additional pollen article that'll focus on consent. So you will get some additional information that we hope, again, to keep building those tools and keep letting us know what you need too to help get the the resources. And, hopefully, this, again, hit some of those. Our goal was to give you broad enough information that what tools you decide to use with us, tools you decide to use elsewhere, you get really that base of info that you need to get moving. So really, appreciate you all. Hope you have a great rest of your day, and thank you for spending your time with us. Thank you for being here, everyone. Really appreciate your commitment to to learning about this. Thank you.