Petition the DSM-V

Though MOPA is not officially endorsing this petition, other Divisions of APA and other various practitioner-related associations seem to be supporting it. It is primarily supported through the Society for Humanistic Psychology, Division 32 of the American Psychological Association. I am posting the link on the blog for people to research and decide if they would like to sign the petition or not. Click here for the website for the petition. 

Health Care Innovation Challenge Announced

 To advance APA’s priorities of integrated health care and workforce development, we would like to call your attention to the new Health Care Innovation Challenge, which was recently announced by the federal Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation.  This major initiative will award up to $1 billion in grants to applicants who will implement the most compelling new models to deliver “better health, improved care, and lower costs to people enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, and CHIP [Children’s Health Insurance Program], particularly those with the highest health care needs.”  Applicants are encouraged to include new models of workforce development and deployment that efficiently support their service delivery model proposal, along with enhanced infrastructure to support more cost-effective, system-wide functioning. Individual grant awards will range from approximately $1 million to $30 million for a three-year period.  Funding will be directed to innovators who can deploy care improvement models within six months of the grant award through new or expanded efforts to serve new populations of patients, in conjunction (where possible) with other public and private sector partners.  Applications are open to providers, payers, local government, public-private partnerships, and multi-payer collaboratives.  Each project will be monitored for measurable improvements in quality of care and savings generated.

Potential applicants must submit a letter of intent by December 19, 2011, with applications due by January 27, 2012.  The anticipated award date is March 30, 2012.

To learn more about the Health Care Innovation Challenge and information about the application process, please read the Funding Opportunity Announcement.

To read an overview of the Health Care Innovation Challenge, including important deadlines, please read the Fact Sheet (PDF).

D-KEFS for sale

Delis-Kaplan Executive Functions System (D-KEFS) Complete Kit Box, as advertised in  Psych Corp catalogue.  Never used.  $330.00 plus shipping.  Please contact: Stanley Butts, Phone number 816-561-5556, Address:  800 W. 47th Street, Suite 514, Kansas City, MO 64112. 

Vote 10 for MOPA!

Dear fellow psychologists,

If you are also a member of APA, you should have ready received or will receive in the mail shortly your apportionmnet ballot from APA.  As I've mentioned in previous emails, by allotting all 10 of your votes to MOPA, you will give MOPA the greatest voice possible on APA's Council of Representatives.  If you've ever asked yourself what actions you can take that will have a direct impact on your daily practice, this is one of those actions. As we've seen with the BCBS KC rate cuts, at times we need APA to fight on our behalf. Also, a majority of MOPA's budget comes directly from CAPP grants which have recently been threatened. By voting all 10 votes to MOPA you will help sway budgetary decisions like this in the future and MOPA will be in a better position to remain financially solvent in order to serve our members better. 

VOTE 10 for MOPA!!!

Call for Application for the Michael Sullivan Diversity Scholarship Fund

The Michael Sullivan Diversity Scholarship Fund was created to provide financial assistance to support graduate student research projects in honor of Dr. Sullivan’s work with American Psychological Association, State, Provincial, and Territorial Psychological Associations and his commitment to diversity and inclusion.

Submission Deadlines: The deadline for the 2012  award is January 13, 2012  Proposals must be submitted electronically by 4:30pm (eastern) on Friday, January 13, 2012.    Proposals must be in Microsoft word or pdf format and follow the template included below.  Subject line should include “Michael Sullivan Diversity Scholarship Proposal- YOUR NAME”.  Send proposals to mranney@ohpsych.org.

For complete details, click here.

Member in the News

Vetta L. Sanders-Thompson was recently featured in Washington University's Record for her work in helping people access health care, Dr. Thompson is MOPA's Psychology in the Workplace Network (PWN) Representative.  To read the full article, click here.

Monthly Ad from APA Insurance Trust

To be taken directly to the APAIT website, click here.

CAPP Grant Update

From Melba Vasquez (President of APA):

The APAPO BoD and CAPP have worked collaboratively on the goal of assuring the 2011 level of funding for the Organizational Development, Legislative and Emergency grants in the 2012 CAPP budget. While it looks like the APAPO's anticipated income will be expanded through new funding streams, we are so early in the dues collection cycle that it is very difficult to predict Practice Assessment revenues at this time. We will have a better idea about this by the December Board meeting. Consequently, the APAPO Board believes it only prudent to adhere to the usual review date of December for approval of the CAPP budget. At this point the recommendation is for 2011 level funding for all three grant categories. We trust that the SPTAs, as c-6 organizations, will continue to assist their members in understanding the interrelatedness of the Practice Assessment and SPTA support of all kinds.

From Ellen McLean, our Executive Director:

The good news is that the APAPO board came to the table with funding options that will fully fund the Organizational Grants, the Legislative Grants and the Emergency grants at the 2011 levels.  

HOWEVER…. Since the practice assessments are coming in more slowly than projections, the budget (which has not yet been approved by the APA board) may need to be reviewed and corrected as the budget year gets underway.  

I want to stress the importance of contributing to the practice assessment.  This is an issue that we must all take ownership in, and the states need to work collaboratively with APAPO.  If you would like more information about the importance of the assessment and its relationship to the CAPP grants, please contact me (esmclean@mopsych.org).