Hiring a massage therapist?
Put these 5 things on your checklist
By Louis Sportelli, DC

Many healthcare providers today are expanding their practices by offering additional services to their practices from audiology to Zen.

One service gaining popularity in chiropractic is massage therapy. While offering massage can bring additional revenue into the practice and can work in tandem with chiropractic care, you should consider some risk-management issues.

Because massage therapists often treat patients in a one-on-one setting, due-diligence in the hiring of a massage therapist is advisable.

1. Check credentials. Ideally, speak to instructors at the therapist’s school and inquire about his or her performance during training. Also, check with previous employers to find out whether they would hire this person back.

If your inquiries are verbal, put a note in the files about the conversations you had. Document each conversation with the date, time, name, and comments as proof of your background check.

2. Check technique. It can be helpful to have the massage therapist perform treatments on you and your staff before treating patients. This helps ensure that only therapies consistent with your facility’s healthcare goals are used.

It also enables you to explain to patients what a typical massage consists of and to be aware of potential issues. For example, “deep tissue” massage may produce clotting if the patient is taking blood thinning medication.

Your firsthand experience with the therapist may help you develop literature to answer unspoken questions patients have about massage such as: Do I have to disrobe? Will the therapy hurt? How long will the massage take?

Answering possible questions such as these up front not only helps to ensure the success of the new service, but it also removes any fear or preconceived notions that may exist and that patients may not feel comfortable asking about.

3. Refresh ethics education. Once you hire your therapist, provide refresher reading, such as The Ethics of Touch by Ben E. Benjamin, PhD, and Cherie Sohnen-Moe, and Ethical Perspectives: Sexual Boundary Issues and the Chiropractic Paradigm, by Michael J. Stahl, DC, and Stephen M. Foreman, DC, are two excellent resources.

4. Set expectations. It should be made perfectly clear to the new employee or

independent contractor that your reputation and that of your facility is “on the line” and will be affected by any inappropriate actions. This discussion will provide the basis for informing the massage therapist of your expectations and goals in providing this service.

5. Check your malpractice coverage. From a malpractice coverage standpoint, hiring a massage therapist can be tricky. In a number of states, massage therapists aren’t required to have their own malpractice coverage, and many doctors have been brought into lawsuits as a result of the concept of vicarious liability.

Simply put, vicarious liability means that if a patient suffers harm because of the negligence of an employee or someone you contract with, you will also be held negligent.

Therefore, the due-diligence you exercise before hiring the massage therapist will help provide evidence that your background checks were carefully undertaken. This will bode well to a jury that you carefully scrutinized this individual before placing your patients’ care in the massage therapist’s hands.

On the other hand, if, after a lawsuit is filed, it is discovered that the massage therapist had a questionable background and you did not exercise good hiring practices, it will not demonstrate good judgment on your part.

You can protect yourself and your practice by making sure that any practitioner you contract with or hire carries his or her own insurance. You can do this by getting a copy of the practitioner’s malpractice insurance declarations page and requesting to be added as a certificate holder on his or her coverage (ensuring you will be notified if coverage lapses).

In addition, if you are part of a corporation or a partnership, having the right type of coverage can protect you if your practice becomes a target of a lawsuit.

SIDEBAR:
Is gowning an issue?

Louis Sportelli, DC, is president of NCMIC Group, Inc. (www.ncmic.com), which provides malpractice protection and offers an array of diversified insurance and financial services. He can be contacted at 800-769-2000.

DISCLAIMER: The accompanying text is offered solely for general information and educational purposes. It is not offered as, nor does it constitute, legal advice or opinion. You should not act or rely upon this information without seeking the advice of an attorney.