March Update

This was sent out as an email to all MOPA members:
Dear fellow psychologists,

I'm writing to keep you up to date on the activity of MOPA over the past month. 

• We successfully have amended HB1032 to include psychologists as qualified professionals who can conduct adoption evaluations. We should have been included from the beginning, however, this is one of those situations where having a lobbyist who continually tracks legislation of interest and fights for our profession pays off.  Without our member dues, we couldn't afford our lobbyist and without our lobbyist, pieces of legislation such as this would go unnoticed much too often.
• MOPA has officially offered its support via testimony and written letter of support for both SB742 and HB1490 - both of which require insurance companies to respond to applications for credentialing by providers within 60 days.  This ensures that insurance companies don't just "sit" on psychologists applications indefinitely while they await a decision and patients go untreated.   
• On Februry 29th MOPA's APA Council Representative Brick Johnstone, MOPA's Medicaid Task Force Chair John Howell, and our lobbyist met with representatives from MOHealthNet (Medicaid) to discuss including Health and Behavior Codes as reimbursable codes under Medicaid and negotiating the parameters of the current cap (150 hours) on billable hours per calendar month under Medicaid. Medicaid was receptive to our ideas and everyone left the meeting feeling optimistic.  
• HB1509 would mandate insurance carriers to cover services related to Eating Disorders.  This bill has great potential for expanding opportunities for practice of psychologists, but there are also a lot of concerns from our perspective as well as a lot of kinks that would need to be worked out for this bill to pass both House and Senate.  Right now we are focusing our efforts on making sure that psychologists are recognized as providers that offer evidence-based treatments that are considered "best practices" to patients with EDs.  Right now the bill is using APA's (American Psychiatric not American Psychological) practice guidelines (click here) as their main reference.  Despite this, even within APA's PG, psychologists are mentioned throughout, oftentimes as providing the most effective type of treatment (CBT for example).  I have spoken with Dr. Jillon VanderWal, an ED researcher at SLU this week about this bill and she has offered great insights into what our best plan of attack should be. I'm also planning on talking with Dr. David Garner, founder of the River Centre Clinic in Ohio (an ED Clinic) who has published extensively in the field on EDs and more importantly has worked with legislators in Ohio to pass similar legislation.  
• HB1082 is back (giving LPCs authority to diagnose), but our lobbyist is on it and has at the ready our detailed rebuttal to why this would be a bad idea. So far this should be enough to keep the bill in check, as the sponsors don't want to pursue it if there is opposition from other parties. 
• Next weekend I, and many others from MOPA are headed to the APA State Leadership Conference in Washington, DC where we will connect with other STPAs and learn valuable insights from APA leaders from the Practice Organization and Practice Directorate on how to best advocate for our profession at the state level.  We will also have a Hill visit where we will meet with Senators and Representatives to discuss issues affecting psychologists nationwide.  
• Lastly, I wanted to put in my regular plug for our Annual Convention which is just a few short weeks away (March 23-24).  Chuck Hollister, our President-elect has done a great job planning this event and it will truly have something to offer everyone - students, ECPs, as well as seasoned psychologists. Click here for more details.

As you can see, there is a lot going on behind the scenes of MOPA and we are hard at work advocating for the best interests of Missouri psychologists. Please feel free to email me with any thoughts, suggestions or concerns.   

Yours in service,
Richard P. Martielli, Ph.D., ABPP
MOPA President
Website: MOPAPresident.blogspot.com
Twitter: @DrRichMartielli
Facebook Page: Missouri Early Carerr Psychologists