Five Hidden Rules That Could Cost You Your License

Transcript

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This podcast is for educational purposes only, does not constitute legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you need legal assistance about a legal problem, contact an attorney. You’ve worked hard for your license. Years of school, exams, late nights, trainings, lots of real sacrifice. But here’s the terrifying part that nobody really tells you. Licensed professionals lose their careers every single day. Not because of fraud that they’ve committed, not because they’ve gone and maliciously harmed someone, but because of tiny rule violations that they never knew existed. I’m Cimone Murphree, and this is Know Your Regulator.

Today we’re going to be walking through, counting down actually, the five hidden rules that could take away your license overnight. So let’s get into it.

So we’ll start off with rule number five. Silence will not save you. If the board sends you a letter that clock is already ticking, right? The process has already started. Ignoring it is really viewed as non-compliance. Like you are ignoring it. And that alone can cost you your license. The boards don’t assume that you’re innocent, right? They have evidence potentially against you. If you don’t respond to your board, they will continue the process with or without you. So you could completely ignore it and then find out that your license has been revoked or you have a thousands of dollar judgment against you. And because you weren’t a part of the process, because you didn’t respond initially, they’re over there making decisions about your license that affect you, and you have no say in that. So the boards do not assume that you’re innocent. They assume that you must respond, right? And if you don’t, like I said, they’re taking action without your side of the story.

So let’s talk about what this looks like in the real world, right? This is a fictional example, but this is pulled from patterns that we see every single day. So let’s talk about someone we’ll call her Melissa. Melissa is a teacher, she’s a good one. She’s loved by her students, her colleagues. One afternoon, a parent misunderstood a comment that she made to a child, and they filed a complaint. Parents can do that. Parents can file complaints against teachers. Melissa, the teacher, not worried. She didn’t do anything wrong. She knows she didn’t do anything wrong. She knows that she’s innocent. When they don’t find anything wrong, it’s gonna go away.

That’s what she’s thinking. So when that board letter came, she did get her letter in the mail, she set it on the kitchen table. A week passed, two weeks, life gets to you, things get busy, right? The deadline came and it went without a single response from Melissa. Huge problem. So the board then issued a default judgment and they accepted the worst version of events. Melissa never went in to speak her side of the story. Her license was restricted, her school district placed her on leave, and her career and her reputation were damaged before she even opened her mouth. And remember that parents, if you’re a teacher, parents can look up your license on TEA, SBEC website, on the registry, and it will say if your license is under investigation.

So here’s your lesson: the board doesn’t chase you. They’re not gonna chase after you. Your silence itself is a decision, and it’s one that can hurt the most. This is a process that you have the opportunity to be involved in and to defend yourself in, and so you need to take that seriously.

So the next one we’re gonna get into rule number four your email is evidence. Everything that you write, emails, text messages, DMs, Snapchats, that can all become part of a complaint file. And deleting that message does not delete the metadata that proves that you sent it. That’s also a huge one. Deleting it and thinking that you can just kind of wipe that away, that’s not going to happen.

This can get anybody in trouble, right? Teachers communicating on personal phones, dentists forwarding x-rays through personal emails, nurses that are charting outside of approved systems, realtors texting contract details insecurely. I mean, you want to make sure that you have those systems in place to be able to share that information with your client, with a third party. One harmless message can be treated as a breach of confidentiality or falsification.

So your communication is part of your everyday record. You need to know the channels that you are approved to communicate in, and more so, what are the overarching rules and regulations that play into your profession and how you are able to communicate with someone? It’s very, very important. This is one that can be so often overlooked because it seems like common sense or that you absolutely know what to do. But I would encourage you to go back and double check and make sure that A, the systems that your employer has in place are compliant with the rules and regulations of your profession, and B, are you securely using that system?

Are you using it the way it’s intended to? And make sure that you are not sharing any sort of confidential information. I mean, that can get you in big trouble outside of licensing as well.

Moving on to rule number three: everyone does it, is not a defense. Every profession has those shortcuts that become normal. Nurses, I think we all know that uh digital charting has a lot of shortcuts in today’s age. These unspoken rules of survival on a busy day become the norm. And the board doesn’t they don’t adhere to that norm, right? They don’t care what kind of culture that you guys have got going on because they’re caring about the rules, they’re caring about upholding this um, you know, the rules and regulations that are in place. So they don’t care if everyone else is doing it or why you may have done that. The fact is they care what you did.

So let’s talk about that for a second. Let’s think about another fictional license holder’s not a real person. Let’s call him Jordan. Jordan is hardworking, he’s respected, he’s overwhelmed by demanding shifts. One day, a coworker comes up to him and says, Hey, I just need you to co-sign this for me. I already did the work. We all do this. I just need you to sign this real quick so we can get on with it. Jordan signed. He didn’t even think twice about it, right? He just kind of took his coworker’s word for it. Hey, we’re really fast. We need to get this done. Don’t tell me that doesn’t happen in your workplace.

But a month later, not because of a complaint, but a routine audit, investigators found that Jordan’s signature was on procedures that Jordan wasn’t present for. And when he was questioned, Jordan said, everyone does it. Everyone does it. Those words ended his career. The board responded with the words that do matter. We’re not disciplining everyone. I’m sure growing up your parents told you, if so-and-so jumped off a bridge, would you do it too?

If so-and-so signed for a procedure that they weren’t present for, would you do it too? Would you be willing to put your license on the line for such a quick shortcut like that? Because Jordan’s license, boom, suspended, job gone, savings wiped, wiped out. That one shortcut, that one moment where culture was over compliance, it replaced that compliance. India Jordan’s career.

So that is why that’s how we all do it, or that’s just what we do. Um it’s dangerous. It’s very dangerous when you are a licensed professional and you’re in a setting where you hear, we all do it that way. That’s the way I know you heard it this way, or I know that they told you to do it this way, but we don’t do it that way, we do it this way. Dangerous. You got to think about is that something I’m really supposed to do? Is am I potentially putting my license on the line for such a quick fix in the moment? Are you?

Okay, moving on to rule number two, which is one we talk about a lot on Know Your Regulator. Social media is a minefield, and it’s so true. A post can do a lot of damage, potentially even more than a workplace event, right? Something that happens at work. Not because you were intentionally doing anything, but there are thousands of scenarios, I would say, in which you could find yourself with social media violating a rule. I mean, you could have some sort of identifying factor in the back of a picture that reveals patient information.

You could have um, you could be posting something real nasty about someone and have your location tag on at your workplace, and now everybody knows they could put two and two together, uh a joke that you’re joking about. It could be a little bit too far on social media, maybe not to you, but to someone else, they may perceive that um as going too far. A rant if you’re venting on social media, uh, if you are sharing a patient testimonial or a client testimonial without consent, huge one. Absolutely huge.

The boards are watching, your employers are watching, and there are strangers on the internet, haters, maybe on the internet, that are going to report you. They’re gonna see that, and it could be that you didn’t even do anything wrong, but someone has some sort of personal grudge against you. You have to be careful about what you post on the internet as a licensed professional, just 24-7.

Like I said, strangers are always willing to report. There are haters who are ready to go get at you. There are people who are just not having a good day and want somewhere or something to take it out on, and that may be you, and you don’t want to fall prey to anything like that. Don’t even open the door, keep all of that off of social media and out of your digital footprint.

Something very major to remember if you wouldn’t want the board to see it, don’t post it. Don’t post it. Point blank. If you wouldn’t want the board to see it, don’t put it up on the internet because they will. They’ll find it.

And here we are at rule number one. This one is tough. Can be a tough bill to swallow, maybe. Rule number one is you might have to report yourself. Yeah. You might have to report yourself. Many boards require self-reporting for things that you don’t even realize can trigger discipline. Arrests are a huge one. Many, if not all, boards require that you report, you self-report that arrest, which can be really scary and really daunting. No one wants to come right out and say, I’ve been arrested for anything.

And even if you don’t agree with the arrest, even if you don’t agree with the alleged offense that you may or may not have committed, you still have to disclose that you were arrested to the board. It is not potentially the mistake that will get you in trouble, it’s really the failure to disclose it and the fact that you’re trying to hide things from the board. They see non-reporting as dishonesty, and that that can become more serious of an issue than the actual violation that you allegedly committed by itself. And I say allegedly put air quotes, but really, it is allegedly, right? You haven’t been convicted, you’re just reporting the arrest, which is showing honesty with the board.

If something happens, you’ve got to know your reporting requirements, right? I said many, if not all, you need to check with your specific board to see what are those requirements. If you are arrested, how quickly are you supposed to report that to your board? And you are not going to want someone else, your employer or somebody else to find that out before you are taking charge of it, right? Taking responsibility, taking action, and putting yourself in the best light to move forward.

And a very easy way that you can do that is to call an attorney. You don’t have to hire that said attorney, but you need to call them and consult with them. Consult with an expert who has the knowledge of what this process is like and what you need to do to make sure that the chips aren’t stacked up against you and that you’ve got a fair say in what happens to your license.

So the takeaway here isn’t fear. I don’t want you guys to be scared. I don’t want you to leave this uh this podcast with fear in your heart and you’re a little bit nervous to walk out into your profession, your practice. Most licensed professionals they don’t lose their careers because of that egregious misconduct, this huge thing. They lose them because of the small decisions that they make in the rush of everyday life, right?

A, there are systems that they maybe don’t have that protect you, that keep you within compliance. Or B, again, that that culture over compliance can be so messy and can be feel it can feel like that’s what’s expected of you in your position. But small things like a missed deadline, that convenience shortcut, a post that you make that you thought would disappear but now exists in the metadata forever, a letter that you were too afraid to open, that you left sitting on your kitchen counter for three weeks, and the board has decided to continue moving on throughout this process without you.

Those are all things that absolutely jeopardize your license and can put your livelihood at serious risk. You’ve got to protect yourself. You’ve got to know the rules that you were never taught. I know that they’re not teaching these things to you guys in school. You guys are focusing on the day-to-day practice of your profession, but it’s just so important to know those rules so you can protect yourself. And if you’ve got a board letter in your hand right now, please do not respond alone.

Okay, there are many, many attorneys out there or legal support trade groups that can assist you when you’re going through this type of process, okay? And we are here, know you regulator. We know the process, we know the pitfalls, right? We’re here to protect and help you gain the knowledge and resources that you can use to go out and feel compliant in your practice every single day, okay?

That’s all from us today at Know You Regulator. Hope you enjoyed these five hidden rules. Maybe have them on your top of mind awareness for your day to day practice. We want you to feel compliant and confident in you going out and practicing your profession. That’s what we’re here for. We’re trying to bridge the gap. So until next time, stay inspired and stay engaged with your regulatory agency. Know your regulator, the podcast that inspires you to engage.