What is The Trust Advocate 800 Program?
The Trust Advocate 800 Program is intended to help psychologists insured through The Trust Professional Liability insurance program to avoid or reduce the risk of malpractice actions and disciplinary complaints. The Trust Advocate 800 Program is your chance to get clinical and legal risk management consultation from licensed psychologists with extensive legal, ethical, and risk management expertise. The appointments are free and confidential.
Who may use the Advocate 800 Program's service?
If you are insured under a Trust Professional Liability policy (including the Student Liability and the Researcher and Academician Liability policies) as an owner or an employee, psychologist or non-psychologist, you are eligible to use the service. Allied health professionals, independent contractors and additional insureds are not eligible.
How do I schedule an appointment with an Advocate?
To schedule an appointment, call The Trust at (800) 477-1200. A representative will help you schedule a time for the advocate to call you. Each appointment is limited to 20 minutes.
When should I consult the advocate service?
You should contact the advocate service when you have a legal or ethical question regarding your practice. You don’t need to wait until you are facing a claim. Since the service is free, no question is too small.
What types of issues are covered through the Advocate 800 Program?
The Trust Advocate 800 Program is limited to issues that are subject to coverage under The Trust Professional Liability insurance program. This includes, but is not limited to, questions about:
- Minor children, parents, divorce, custody issues or problematic patients;
- Confidentiality and its exceptions; including duty to protect, suicidal client, mandated reporting of child abuse, and bill collection;
- Forensic issues and court involvement, including expert testimony;
- Employment related evaluations;
- Conflicts between managed care demands and responsibilities to patients, including certain contractual provisions of managed care contracts;
- Responding to complaints before licensing boards and ethics committees;
- Potential conflicts of interests, multiple relationships, and allegations of sexual misconduct;
- Supervisory responsibilities; or
- Informed consent, record keeping, and access to professional records.
What types of issues are excluded from the Advocate 800 Program?
The Trust Advocate 800 Program is not designed to provide advice on business questions, such as advantages and disadvantages of different organizational structures, anti-trust issues, analysis of business contracts, office leases, and employee-employer relations. The service also is not designed for consultation on personal legal questions which are unrelated to professional liability, such as the purchase of a house, tax matters, and interpretations of a legal document such as a will.
These types of questions should be addressed by your personal attorney. Questions on types of insurance, pricing and coverage issues related to your Professional Liability insurance policy should be addressed to a Trust Insurance Service Representative at (800) 477-1200.
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For more detailed answers, or if your question was not answered here, please call us at
1-877-637-9700.