Most homeopaths set up business as sole traders.

If, instead, you decide to work within a group practice or a partnership with other practitioners or with the owner of the premises such as a health centre, yoga centre or pharmacy, there are a number of issues to consider.

Sharing premises and trade names:

Note that ARoH’s Standards of practice regulations have several points regarding the sharing of premises, advertising, stationery, and running other businesses in association with a homeopathic practice. All regulations are aimed at ensuring that the integrity and good name of the homeopathic profession are maintained. In particular, under Point 15 – Sharing of premises:

Where a practitioner is involved in a joint tenancy arrangement with practitioners who are not homeopathic practitioners, exceptional care should be taken in regard to the signage and stationery provisions in order to ensure that the good name and standing of the homeopathic profession is maintained and that the impression is not given to the public that any unregistered practitioner in the joint tenancy is the holder of a practising certificate.

Protect your registered practitioner/professional member status:

You should take great care that unregistered practitioners do not take advantage of you and your registered status, and your status as a professional member.

For example, non-professional members are not eligible to use AHA stationery which advertises them as a professional member of the AHA.

I also sometimes occurs that some non-registered practitioners, including non-registered practitioners of other modalities, put unfair and unreasonable pressure on registered practitioners, in an attempt to illegally use their TGA certificate and to gain access to practitioner-only products.

Have a contract!

Going into business with one or more people can be considered to be like a marriage. Like a marriage, the partnership can be entered into thinking that nothing can possibly go wrong and that you will work together happily, forever. However, work relationships can sour, unfortunately, and issues which seemed not to require documentation at the outset can suddenly form the basis for major disputation and even legal action.

For these reasons, if you are entering into a group practice or partnership situation, it is wise to have a written contract, so that if there is a break-up the conditions are understood from the outset. For example, under what terms can a partner sell the business or opt out?

The case record – one or several?

One of the issues which people rarely consider is the content, layout and storage of the patient’s case record.

Will there be a separate record?

• for each practitioner, even if several practitioners work within the same modality
• for each modality – i.e. a shared record for all homeopaths in the clinic, but a separate record for the acupuncturists, another for the massage therapists, etc.

Or will all practitioners use the one shared record?

The decisions made in this regard have implications regarding confidentiality and what you tell your patients regarding their privacy at the time of their first consultation – following the guidelines of the Privacy Act/s (Commonwealth and/or State).

Ownership of records:

Most people entering into a shared clinic situation take into consideration the ownership of assets such as the building, computers, office furniture, etc.

But they rarely consider the answer to the question: ‘who owns the records?’ And what happens to the records if there is a disintegration of the partnership?

If you leave, do you leave the records of your patients behind with the clinic or are you entitled to take the records (and the patients) with you to your next clinic? These issues are often the subject of legal action between practitioners, so it is best to have an understanding from the outset.

It is wise to discuss these issues prior to entering into a shared clinic situation, and include the agreed solutions in a written contract.