Article archive / February 1, 2014
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 6. Source pages: 1, 5.
The state psychology board has apparently ended a brief effort to review their Opinion #12, which states that medical psychologists, those not licensed under the state psychology board, may supervise candidates for a license in psychology.
The Executive Director of the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists (LSBEP), Ms. Kelly Parker, told the Times, “The Board received attorney-client privileged legal advice a couple of years ago and the information was revisited. LSBEP Opinion #012 is still the opinion of the current Board,” she noted.
Opinion #12 began in 2010 when then chair Dr. Joe Comaty found that under the Psychology Practice Act, supervisors of those seeking a license in psychology must be supervised by someone licensed under the LSBEP. And, he said that a medical psychologist who wants to supervise psychology interns would need to continue to hold their state psychology license.
However, following that decision Comaty, who is also a medical psychologist, was contacted by the Executive Director of the Medical Board, Dr. Robert Marier. And after that the board rescinded and reversed its decision.
Maier wrote Comaty, saying, “Joe, I am writing to ask LSBEP to reconsider its position on the supervision of psychology students by medical psychologists at the request of members of the Medical Psychology Advisory Committee. A summary of the issues prepared by John Bolter PhD, MP, is attached for your reference.”
“First it was clearly the intent of the Medical Psychology Practice Act to enable medical psychologists to continue all aspects of their practice as before including the supervision of psychology students,” wrote Dr. Marier.
“Second and more importantly from a legal perspective – LSBEP permits out of state psychologists to do so and in doing so does not uphold the provision in the Psychology Practice Act that is cited as the reason for not permitting medical psychologists to supervise students. I do not see how you can have it both ways.”
Dr. Bolter submitted a two-page argument with excerpts from laws that related the term psychologist and the term medical psych- ologist. He cited a specific example, “Labor and Workman’s Compensation law (R.S. 23:1371.1[2]) defines a ‘Psychologist’ as an individual licensed to practice psychology by LSBEP or LSBME.”
In July 2011, the then LSBEP Chair, Dr. Tony Young, told the Times that the position of the LSBEP was based on the Workman’s Comp law.
The supervision issue is part of a set of issues from passage of Act 251 that places the practice of psychology under the regulatory authority of the medical board, including educational issues and other standards of practice.
It is not known if the psychology board, either during 2011 or in this recent review, has received contrasting views or testimony from other sources. The board has a majority of medical psychologists serving at this time.
However, in a previous interview with the Times, Dr. Stephen DeMers, Executive Director of the Association for State and Provincial Psychology Boards (ASPPB), said that there is no other state where individuals practicing psychology are regulated by a medical board. And he said, “Louisiana is playing with fire.”
DeMers also said, “It might satisfy the rules in Louisiana, but not in any other state. The implications for people down the road could be catastrophic.”
ASPPB serves member boards throughout the United States, and is the regulation authority for psychologists, focusing on issues of standards of practice and mobility across states.
Concerns of ASPPB’s director were repeated to members of the Louisiana Psych- ological Association when they looked into the question. However, in an article by Drs. Alicia Pellegrin and Robert Storer for the associa- tion’s newsletter, the two authors said they felt the risk to interns was small.
The APA Board of Educational Affairs (BEA) has expressed “strong concerns about the potential implications of oversight of a psychology licensing board by a nonpsychologist health profession board at the state licensing level. Very specifically, concerns were expressed regarding ultimate oversight by another profession of the evaluation of education and training credentials of psychologists and standards for supervision in clinical training.”
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