[arpaleadership] Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Pre-Work for Council Strategic Issue Discussion
- From: "Ghormley, Courtney O." <Courtney.Ghormley@xxxxxx>
- To: <arpaleadership@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 9 Feb 2015 08:49:18 -0600
These are all great points and important to the future of psychology. In
preparation for the APA Council meeting, I'm able to submit 3 issues in order
of importance to Arkansas psychologists. I have to upload them to APA by
Friday, Feb. 13th.
It looks like we might be able to combine a few of these particularly the ones
involving reimbursement issues (i.e. reimbursement rates, parity, payment of
CPT codes to support integrated care, and payment for tele-psychology).
Can we come to a consensus as to what those 3 topics will be? I know you all
have many issues on the agenda for the BOD meeting this Friday, so I'm hoping
we can do most of this over email.
Thanks,
Courtney
APA COR Representative for Arkansas
Courtney O. Ghormley, PhD, ABPP
Geropsychologist / Geriatric Neuropsychology
Board Certified in Geropsychology
Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System
2200 Fort Roots Drive (3B-Geriatrics)
North Little Rock, AR 72114
501-257-3234
-----Original Message-----
From: arpaleadership-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:arpaleadership-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ADAM BENTON
Sent: Friday, February 06, 2015 9:35 AM
To: arpaleadership@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [EXTERNAL] [arpaleadership] Re: Pre-Work for Council Strategic Issue
Discussion
Thank you Courtney! I’m so glad we have you in a position to advocate for
Arkansa’s psychologist. I’m providing 5 issues. Hopefully others' responses can
help you decide which three to present.
1. Reimbursement rates. Our field has scientifically proven treatments that
are, in many cases, the most effective approaches to treatment. However, often
the lesser effective approaches are paid substantially more and are easier to
access. Case in point: childhood anxiety. I saw seven-year-old yesterday with
mild anxiety. All guidelines I know of stress CBT as the first-line treatment
for anxious children. She has been on Zoloft for over a year and seen no
improvement. Her 15-minute appointment with the psychiatrist for a med check
could result in payment of $250. My hour of CBT, which included parent
coaching, psycho-education and live practicing of skills to manage anxiety,
will earn me between $37 and $130 depending on their insurance company. It
seems that more effective and time intensive treatments should receive higher
payments. I know there are other factors that weigh into cost formulas, but our
field could advocate better for reimbursement rates.
2. Parity issues. Our clinic repeatedly comes across insurance plans that have
different coverage and separate deductibles for mental health. Insurance
companies argue they are meeting the parity requirements bc they provide some
coverage. But the coverage is not equal or sufficient. Also, those in mental
health have to work harder than those in physical health to get paid. Mental
health providers have more prior authorizations and other red tape that
complicates the process for families and providers.
3. Regarding integrated care… Our clinic has sought opportunities to place
clinicians in medical offices, but have faced significant barriers with
billing. We need changes to the CPT codes that make integrated care teams
possible in primary care clinics, such as billing for collaboration between
providers and bill multiple services on the same day or even at the same time.
4. Lack of APA training sites for psychologists and the year of post-doctoral
purgatory, where doctorally trained individuals can’t bill most insurances, are
both problematic.
5. Tele-psychology reimbursement across all insurance companies would allow
more people to access to services in rural states like Arkansas. As of now,
only a few companies reimburse for tele-health or tele-psychology services.
> On Feb 5, 2015, at 11:11 AM, Seay, Amy D <ADSeay@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> My top issue would be the role of psychologists in primary care/integrated
> medicine. I am also interested in reimbursement for telemedicine. As a state,
> I would be interested in behavioral health codes being reimbursed by Medicaid
> but I don’t know if that is a strategic issue facing psychology that APA
> would like to know about as currently it is a state by state issue….
> That’s my 2 cents.
>
> From: arpaleadership-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:arpaleadership-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kristin
> Addison-Brown
> Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2015 11:09 AM
> To: arpaleadership@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [arpaleadership] Re: Pre-Work for Council Strategic Issue
> Discussion
>
> I agree with Betty, except that I would personally make her #3 my #1.
>
> On Thu, Feb 5, 2015 at 10:59 AM, Everett, Betty L. <EverettBettyL@xxxxxxxx>
> wrote:
> Hi just some thoughts from my perspective. 1. The issues of the role
> in primary care , integrated medicine is a top priority to me. A second
> issue perhaps not as global is the difficulties with funding internships
> and training. I would love to find a way for interns to be credentialed to
> bill insurance for services ( maybe we will do away with the fee for service
> concept but I think that is a long time coming!). So, one idea is
> provisional Ph.D. during internship year so a license accepted by
> institutions, insurance as practitioners….. A significant third issue to me
> is leadership in taking back from 3rd party payers significant clinical
> decisions.
>
> From: arpaleadership-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> [mailto:arpaleadership-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ghormley, Courtney
> O.
> Sent: Thursday, February 05, 2015 10:15 AM
> To: arpaleadership@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: [arpaleadership] Pre-Work for Council Strategic Issue
> Discussion
>
> Greetings ArPA Leadership,
>
> As your APA Council of Representatives member, I am preparing for our
> upcoming council meeting (February 19-22) in Washington, DC. Each Council
> representative has been asked to poll our respective Executive Committee
> about the most critical, top three, strategic issues facing the discipline
> over the next 5-10 years.
>
> Note that by “strategic issues facing psychology” we mean high level,
> overarching concerns that will influence many if not most areas of psychology
> in the next decade or so and/or that will influence how psychology interacts
> with the world around it. Examples might include psychology’s role in primary
> care and globalization/internationalization.
> These results will be aggregated by APA staff and be made use of during the
> Council strategic issue discussions.
>
> What I need from you is input! As a group, we need to decide on ArPA’s top
> three, critical, strategic issues that we believe are facing the discipline
> over the next 5-10 years, and I’ll be sure to communicate this to APA for
> discussion at the upcoming Council meeting.
>
> Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
>
> Courtney Ghormley
> APA Council Representative from Arkansas
>
> Courtney O. Ghormley, PhD, ABPP
> Geropsychologist / Geriatric Neuropsychology Board Certified in
> Geropsychology
>
> Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System
> 2200 Fort Roots Drive (3B-Geriatrics)
> North Little Rock, AR 72114
> 501-257-3234
>
>
>
>
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>
>
> --
> Kristin J. Addison-Brown, PhD
> Owner/Clinical Neuropsychologist
> NEA Neuropsychology, PLLC
> 304 Southwest Square
> Jonesboro, Arkansas 72401
> Ph: 870-203-6085
> Fax: 870-203-6083
> neaneuropsychology.com
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