Adverse Patient Behavior Policy

The purpose of this policy is to maintain a safe, respectful, and therapeutic environment for patients utilizing services through Headway. This policy outlines the expectations for patient behavior ensuring the safety and well-being of everyone involved.

Applicability

This policy applies to all patients and any behavior that disrupts the therapeutic process, compromises safety, or negatively affects Headway’s team or Headway’s providers.

Our Policy

Definitions

• Adverse Behavior: Actions or conduct by a patient that is disrespectful, harmful, threatening, or disruptive. This may include verbal aggression, physical aggression, property damage, boundary violations, failure to comply with treatment guidelines, or behavior that endangers the safety or well-being of others.
• Immediate Threat: Any behavior that poses an immediate physical or inappropriate interpersonal aggression to Headway’s team or Headway’s providers.
• Medication-Seeking Behavior: Actions in which a patient seeks to obtain prescription medications inappropriately, such as meeting excessively with multiple providers, requesting unnecessary medications, exaggerating symptoms, or manipulating staff to gain access to controlled substances.
  
  

Expectations for Patient Behavior

Patients are expected to: 

• Treat all Headway’s team members and Headway providers with respect and courtesy.
• Maintain appropriate personal boundaries.
• Communicate concerns or dissatisfaction respectfully with their Headway provider or Headway’s team.
  
  

Types of Adverse Behavior

1. Verbal Aggression: Including yelling, threats, inappropriate language, excessively demanding behavior or insults directed toward staff or other patients.
2. Physical Aggression: Any form of violent behavior or threat of violence, including hitting, shoving, or intimidating gestures.
3. Property Damage: Intentional destruction of property belonging to contracted Headway providers or Headway
4. Boundary Violations: Inappropriate physical contact or violation of another's personal space, inappropriate communication on social media, stalking behavior, and inappropriate or excessive communication that cross established boundaries.
5. Non-compliance with Treatment: Repeated failure to follow agreed-upon treatment guidelines, which may disrupt the therapeutic process or group sessions.
6. Medication Seeking Behavior:
   • Exaggerating or fabricating symptoms to obtain medications. Requesting specific medications, particularly controlled substances, without clinical need.
     Tampering with or altering prescriptions. Visits to multiple medical providers with the goal to obtain prescription medications for non-medical reasons, or to get multiple prescriptions.
7. Inappropriate use of Headway’s Platform:
   • Creating multiple user accounts after having been removed from the platform
   • Intentionally inputting invalid payment methods or insurance information

Policy name: Adverse Patient Behavior Policy
Effective date: 02/21/2025
Review/approval date: 01/21/2025
Revision date: -
Approved by: Head of Compliance