[arpaleadership] Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Pre-Work for Council Strategic Issue Discussion

  • From: "Ghormley, Courtney O." <Courtney.Ghormley@xxxxxx>
  • To: <arpaleadership@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2015 08:52:10 -0600

Will do!  See you all Friday.

-----Original Message-----
From: arpaleadership-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
[mailto:arpaleadership-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of ADAM BENTON
Sent: Tuesday, February 10, 2015 8:06 AM
To: arpaleadership@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [arpaleadership] Re: [EXTERNAL] Re: Pre-Work for Council Strategic 
Issue Discussion

That sounds like a great idea Courtney! Can you present this to the board on 
Friday for their stamp of approval? Thanks again for your work on this.  


Adam

> On Feb 9, 2015, at 8:49 AM, Ghormley, Courtney O. <Courtney.Ghormley@xxxxxx> 
> wrote:
> 
> 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
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including any attachments, is 
>> for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential 
>> and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or 
>> distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please 
>> contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original 
>> message.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> --
>> 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
> 
> 


Other related posts: