Section 160. Unprofessional conduct

The board may refuse to issue a license to any applicant, suspend a license for a stated period of time or indefinitely, reprimand a licensee or place his license on probation with such terms and conditions and for such time as it may designate, impose a monetary penalty, or revoke a license for any of the following:

1. Guarantee of the results of any speech, voice, language, or hearing consultative or therapeutic procedure or exploitation of clients by accepting them for treatment when benefit cannot reasonably be expected to occur or by continuing treatment unnecessarily;

2. Diagnosis or treatment of speech, voice, language, and hearing disorders solely by written correspondence, provided this shall not preclude:

a. Follow-up by written correspondence or electronic communication concerning individuals previously seen; or

b. Providing clients with general information of an educational nature;

3. Failure to comply with provisions of § 32.1-127.1:03 of the Code of Virginia related to the confidentiality and disclosure of client records or related to provision of client records to another practitioner or to the client or his personal representative;

4. Failure to properly manage and keep timely, accurate, legible, and complete client records, to include the following:

a. For licensees who are employed by a health care institution, school system, or other entity, in which the individual practitioner does not own or maintain his own records, failure to maintain client records in accordance with the policies and procedures of the employing entity; or

b. For licensees who are self-employed or employed by an entity in which the individual practitioner does own and is responsible for client records, failure to maintain a client record for a minimum of six years following the last client encounter with the following exceptions:

(1) For records of a minor child, the minimum time is six years from the last client encounter or until the child reaches the age of 18 or becomes emancipated, whichever is longer; or

(2) Records that have previously been transferred to another practitioner or health care provider or provided to the client or his personal representative as documented in a record or database maintained for a minimum of six years;

5. Engaging or attempting to engage in a relationship with a client that constitutes a professional boundary violation in which the practitioner uses his professional position to take advantage of the vulnerability of a client or a client's family, including but not limited to sexual misconduct with a client or a member of the client's family or other conduct that results or could result in personal gain at the expense of the client;

6. Incompetence or negligence in the practice of the profession;

7. Failure to comply with applicable state and federal statutes or regulations specifying the consultations and examinations required prior to the fitting of a new or replacement prosthetic aid for any communicatively impaired person;

8. Failure to refer a client to an appropriate health care practitioner when there is evidence of an impairment for which assessment, evaluation, care, or treatment might be necessary;

9. Failure to supervise persons who assist in the practice of audiology or speech-language pathology as well as failure to disclose the use and identity of unlicensed assistants;

10. Conviction of a felony or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude;

11. Violating or cooperating with others in violating any of the provisions of Chapters 1 (§ 54.1-100 et seq.), 24 (§ 54.1-2400 et seq.), or 26 (§ 54.1-2600 et seq.) of Title 54 of the Code of Virginia or the regulations of the board;

12. Publishing or causing to be published in any manner an advertisement relating to his professional practice that is false, deceptive, or misleading;

13. Inability to practice with skill and safety;

14. Fraud, deceit, or misrepresentation in provision of documentation or information to the board or in the practice of audiology or speech-language pathology;

15. Aiding and abetting unlicensed activity; or

16. Revocation, suspension, restriction, or any other discipline of a license or certificate to practice or surrender of license or certificate while an investigation or administrative proceedings are pending in another regulatory agency in Virginia or another jurisdiction.

Historical Notes

Derived from Volume 32, Issue 23, eff. August 10, 2016.

Statutory Authority

§ 54.1-2400 of the Code of Virginia.