Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 7. Source pages: 6.
Proposed law would require that prior to undergoing an elective abortion, a woman would be given information on resources that she can review to learn the increased risks of psychiatric and psychological harm associated with abortion, and this would be a condition of consent for the procedure to be deemed voluntary and informed.
The law directs a task team of one psychologist licensed by the La. State Board of Examiners of Psychologists, one physician license by the La. State Board of Medical Examiners, and one layperson would assist in preparation of the printed and Internet information for Department of Health and Hospitals.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 7. Source pages: 6.
Senator J. P Morrell is putting forth revisions to the Behavior Analyst law that passed last year, in the current legislative session, Senate Bill 71. The bill changes provisions for the line technician.
Proposed law amends present law to provide a registered line technician shall be at least 18 years of age and possess a minimum of a high school diploma or its equivalent. Proposed law provides a line technician shall be registered by his supervising licensed behavior analyst with the board. Proposed law provides within 14 days from the date of application for registration, the line technician shall initiate a criminal background report from the Louisiana Bureau of Criminal Identification and Information of the office of state police within the Department of Public Safety and Corrections.
The proposed law provides the board has the authority to deny or revoke a registration in the best interest of public safety and welfare, and that the registration provided shall be renewed annually by the supervising licensed behavior analyst.
The proposed law also removes “supervised independent fieldwork” from exemptions for people not affected by the chapter.
Attending last Gulf Coast Applied Behavior Analysis Conference are (L) Dr. Dolleen Day-Keohane, BCBA-D, Paula White, CABAS, from Terrebonne Parish School System, and Mary Johnson, M.A, Acension Parish School System. A number of Rules and at least one proposed bill about issues for those in applied behavior analysis are in the news.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 7. Source pages: 6.
In Lieu of Sanity Commission House Bill 15 to Add Licensed Counselor To Those Who May Serve on Clinical Team
House Bill 15 would add licensed professional counselors to the list of persons who may serve on a clinical team that is appointed in lieu of a sanity commission, if the measure is approved.
According to the digest, the present law provides for a sanity commission to be appointed by the court after a mental examination of a defendant is ordered. The sanity commission shall examine and report upon the mental condition of the defendant.
Present law authorizes the court, in lieu of appointing a sanity commission, to enter into a cooperative endeavor agreement with the local mental health unit to examine and report on the mental condition of the defendant. Present law provides that if the local mental health unit is ordered to conduct the examination, it shall form a two- or three-member clinical team to be composed of one or more licensed physicians. If only one licensed physician is a member of the clinical team, the remaining members of the clinical team may be composed of any of the following persons who are qualified by training or experience in forensic evaluations: clinical psychologists, medical psychologists, or licensed clinical social workers.
The proposed law would retain present law and add licensed professional counselors to the list of persons who may serve on a clinical team.
Representative Ted James from Baton Rouge is the author.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 7. Source pages: 7.
The Behavior Analyst Board has an Emergency Rule posted on the Louisiana Register website, which addresses issues due to the lack of a grandfathering clause in Act 351 and individuals practicing behavior analysis in the community. There is insufficient time to promulgate these rules under the usual procedures noted the statement.
The Rule concerns Chapter 3 and “Application procedures and Board Fees.” Included are application and registration information and directions for the applicant for licensure as a behavior analyst. Also the applicant for certification as a state certified assistant behavior analyst is provided directions.
The Rule also outlines the registration of line technicians, noting that a Louisiana licensed behavior analyst must register with the board all line technicians functioning under their authority and direction. Also, the statement says that it is the responsibility of both the licensed behavior analyst and line technician to submit registration paperwork for each supervisory relationship.
Licensing and administration fee charts are included.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 7. Source pages: 7.
The Addictive Disorder Regulatory Authority published a Notice of Intent to change rules, in the February Louisiana Register.
According to the Notice, the scope of practice for the Certified Addiction Counselor (CAC) shall include the rendering of professional guidance to individuals suffering from an addictive disorder to assist them in gaining an understanding of the nature of their disorder and developing and maintaining a responsible lifestyle. The CAC may not practice independently and may not render a diagnostic impression. The scope shall also include making referrals to appropriate professionals, providing counseling to family members and, as appropriate, to others affected by the individual’s addictive disorder, and the utilization of KSA and core functions.
Regarding the Registered Addiction Counselor (RAC), the notice is that scope of practice for the RAC shall include the rendering of professional guidance to individuals suffering from an addictive disorder to assist them in gaining an understanding of the nature of their disorder and developing and maintaining a responsible lifestyle. The RAC may not practice independently and may not render a diagnostic impression. The scope shall also include making referrals to appropriate professionals, providing counseling to family members and, as appropriate, to others affected by the individual’s addictive disorder, and the utilization of KSA and core functions.
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Bills Prefiled Last Friday Legislative Session To Convene March 10
The legislature will convene next Monday, March 10, and plod through its growing set of proposals until Monday June 2 when it is set to adjourn. This session sees prefiled bills for a number of issues in the psychology and behavioral health community. Bills are offered for a new designation for licensed specialist in school psychology, a new license for post-doctoral level individuals in psychology called a provisional license, and new provisional designations for interns in counseling and marriage and family therapists. A measure to clarify definitions is also proposed. There is a bill to create a license for art therapists and one to make changes in the behavior analyst law to clarify issues for line technicians.
A measure to combine the Department of Health and Hospitals with the Department of Child and Family Services has been prefiled and if approved takes effect this November, as part of the Executive Reorganization Act to promote efficiency in state functions.
One topic likely to characterize this year’s debate is Medicaid and issues surrounding the Affordable Care Act. A variety of bills have been prefiled on the topic, including proposed constitutional amendments to expand Medicaid eligibility to conform with federal law. There are also alternative proposals. Among these, one prohibits enforcement of the Affordable Care Act and there is another one aimed to establish an alternative program, the “Louisiana Health Care Independence Program.”
Prefiled bills were due Friday, but legislative members can introduce up to five more each after the session begins. These bills must be “requested” by March 31 and introduced by April 1.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 7. Source pages: 8.
The regular issue of the Louisiana Register posted an Emergency Rule regarding Applied Behavioral Analysis- Based Therapy Services in the Medicaid program, effective on February 1, 2014.
Also, another Emergency Rule, having to do with the topic was posted on the Register’s website, which is to be published in the next Register. The second Rule was effective February 22. Both are available in full at the Louisiana Register at http://www.doa.louisiana.gov/ osr/reg/register.htm
In the February 1 Rule, the Department of Health and Hospitals, Bureau of Health Services Financing and the Office for Citizens with Developmental Disabilities amends the provisions of the children’s choice waiver in order to provide for the allocation of waiver opportunities to Medicaid- eligible children identified in the Melanie Chisholm, et al vs. Kathy Kliebert class action litigation, referred to as Chisholm class members.
The Rule also notes that the action was taken as a temporary measure to ensure Chisholm class members would have access to ABA therapy services as soon as possible.
According to the Rule, those qualifying for ABA-based therapy services must meet several criteria. Among these, the individual must exhibit the excesses and/or deficits of behavior that interfere with home or community activities; be medically stable; be diagnosed by a qualified health care professional with a condition for which ABA- based therapy services are recognized as therapeutically appropriate; have a comprehensive diagnostic evaluation and a prescription for ABA-based therapy services.
Under a section on Covered Services and Limitations, the Rule notes that services must be provided directly or billed by behavior analysts licensed by the Louisiana Behavior Analyst Board.
Also the statement notes that services shall be based upon the individual needs of the child, and must give consideration to the child’s age, school attendance requirements, and other daily activities as documented in the treatment plan. The Rule notes that any services delivered by direct line staff must be under the supervision of a lead behavior therapist who is a Louisiana licensed behavior analyst.
Also, ABA-based therapy services shall be rendered in accordance with the individual’s treatment plan. The treatment plan shall identify long, intermediate, and short-term goals and objectives that are behaviorally defined and identify the criteria that will be used to measure achievement of behavior objectives, for example.
Also mentioned was that Licensed behavior analysts who render ABA-based therapy services shall meet the be licensed by the Louisiana Behavior Analyst Board, and Certified assistant behavior analyst that render ABA- based therapy services shall meet certain provider qualifications.
Reimbursement for ABA-based therapy services shall be based upon a percentage of the commercial rates for ABA- based therapy services in the state of Louisiana. The rates are based upon 15-minute units of service, with the exception of mental health services plan which shall be reimbursed at an hourly fee rate, noted the statement.
The more recent Rule is published online at the Register. The Emergency Rule is to amend provisions for children’s choice waiver and to allow Medicaid participants to coordinate services through a direct support professional rather than a licensed enrolled provider agency, according to the announcement.
The Rule relates to the Medicaid eligible children identified in the Melanie Chisholm, et al vs. Kathy Kliebert class action litigation, and notes that this is an action being taken to comply the judgment.
The Rule adopts criteria for the provision of ABA services to Chisholm class members. Among other things, the statement defines who is qualified to receive services and how the children’s choice waiver is to work. It sets a cap on yearly services of $16,410 but notes that the capped amount shall not apply to ABA services provided to persons entering the waiver under the reserved slots for Chisholm class members.
The Rule also outlines provider qualifications and enrollment. In this more recent Rule, providers who may qualify include board- certified behavior analysts, licensed psychologists, licensed clinical social worker, licensed professional counselor, licensed marriage and family therapist, licensed addiction counselor, or advanced practice registered nurse, with coursework that includes, at a minimum, 40 hours of coursework in behavior analysis, behavior management theory, techniques, interventions and ethics, and autism spectrum disorders.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
6.6 percent increase, but some experts not impressed
In a press release last week Governor Jindal announced his budget which included a small increase for the state’s university systems. The budget puts forth the Governor’s plan to hold the line on taxes, increase funding for higher education, increase funding for K-12 schools, and increase funding for healthcare, accord- ing to the announcement on January 24, 2014.
For higher education, this should mean that no more deep cuts will occur to the beleaguered state universities for the coming budget year.
In an earlier press release, the Governor defended his programs, saying that his reforms were working. “We are in the midst of an economic renaissance in Louisiana,” he said. “Since 2008, we have announced economic development wins that are resulting in more than 80,000 new jobs and more than $50 billion in private capital investment. Because of these job wins, more people are employed than ever before in Louisiana.”
“Tens of thousands of jobs are now in the pipeline that must be filled, and our next challenge is to ensure we have the skilled workforce to fill these jobs of the future. Economists have recently said they have never seen an industrial expansion like the one under way in Louisiana, but have also warned that we must do a better job training skilled workers that will be needed to fill the demand for jobs at the major industrial and high tech projects coming to Louisiana. That’s why our top priority must be making sure we have the resources to prepare our students and train them for the jobs of the future.”
The announcements highlighted increases in state general funding for higher education and increases total higher education funding by $141.5 million – a 6.6 percent increase over last year, according to the announcement.
Jan Moller and David Gray from the Louisiana Budget Project, wrote, “The good news from Gov. Bobby Jindal’s executive budget is that the bleeding has finally stopped in higher education. After five straight years of deep cuts to public colleges and universities — one of the few areas of the state budget that are unprotected by state law or the Constitution — the proposed budget for 2014-15 actually calls for a slight funding increase.”
In comparing states in their support for higher education, the Postsecondary Education Opportunity, an organization for research about education policy, found Louisiana to have reached a 50-year low in funding (see graph).
The Governor’s announcement said that funding includes a new higher education workforce incentive initiative of $40 million that will help prepare Louisiana students to compete in the new global economy. These funds will be made available to state research institutions that produce nationally recognized commercial research and to state colleges and universities that partner with private industry to produce graduates with high-demand degrees and certificates.
More than $82.5 million will go to Taylor Opportunity Program for Students (TOPS), Louisiana’s merit-based scholarship program. The bottom line increase to TOPS is $17 million, the announcement noted. Other investments were outlined.
However, according to Moller and Gray of the La Budget Project, “… there is actually less there than meets the eye,” when the numbers are unpacked. Some of the money will come from raising tuitions and some is contingent on matching funding from private sector partnerships.
“Still, it’s a lot better than getting cut,” the authors said, “which has been the story in higher education since the Great Recession and two unaffordable income-tax cuts collapsed the state revenue base and forced colleges through an unprecedented retrenchment.”
In his introduction to his budget, the Governor supported his approaches, noting that he began in 2008 to shrink the size of government in order to grow the private sector economy and create more private sector jobs. He said that year 2013 was a record year for business expansion and investment in Louisiana.
Governor Jindal said that more than 80,000 new jobs and more than $50 billion in private capital investment have resulted, and now the state much develop new skilled employees .
He pointed to the new incentive fund that will be called the Workforce and Innovation for a Stronger Economy Fund – or WISE Fund. The funds will be made available to state research institutions that produce nationally recognized commercial research and to state colleges and universities that produce graduates with 4 and 5 STAR job ready degrees. research and to state colleges and universities that produce graduates with 4 and 5 STAR job ready degrees. To receive these funds, institutions will have to partner with private industry by recruiting at least a 20 percent private match in cash or in kind, such as technology and equipment, according to the announcement.
Governor Jindal said this collaboration between Louisiana Economic Development (LED), the Louisiana Workforce Commission, and the leaders of higher education has created a targeted investment strategy.
The press release listed partnerships already in place: IBM has entered into a partnership with the LSU School of Engineering. In the UL System, LED recently partnered with UNO and GE Capital, Bossier Parish Community College recently received a $750,000 investment from EnCana Oil & Gas and Shell E&P to create an Oil & Gas Production Technology program. In New Orleans, Delgado partnered with 45 regional manufacturing and construction firms such as Laitram, Cornerstone, Shell, and Bollinger, in addition to UNO, Southeastern, and Nicholls, to produce 1,500 qualified graduates over four years for the manufacturing sector. Southern University recently partnered with Genesis Energy to create a $100,000 scholarship fund, invest $25,000 in Southern’s Civil and Engineering labs, and help Southern ensure its curricula were aligned with the workforce needs of Genesis.
Graphs
Examples of two funding sources over time for three university systems.
The blue line shows the funding from the state general fund (in millions) from the enacted budget.
The red line shows the self-generated funds.
Source: State budgets
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Due to an error in the color of the ballots, the election for a five-year position on the state psychology board is being delayed, current ballots destroyed, and new ballots being sent to licensed psychologists around the state.
“There is to be a do-over of the election,” said Dr. John Fanning, Louisiana Psychological Association (LPA) President. LPA helps conduct the elections in conjunction with the state psychology board.
The error, that ballots were printed on plain white paper rather than shaded paper, would make it easy for someone to send in duplicates.
“We do not have any evidence of any voting impropriety having taken place,” said Fanning, “but we want the election to be unambiguously above-board.”
The election is considered to be an important one for many in the psychology community, because of conflicts over issues due to Act 251. Some in the community are concerned about the percentage representation of medical psychologists, who make up only about 5 percent of the licensed psychologists in the state. Currently 3 of the 5 members are medical psychologists.
Running for the 5-year position are Dr. Robin Chapman, a newcomer to the state and health psychologist, Dr. Joe Comaty, a medical psychologist, and Dr. Connie Patterson, a Tulane professor and school psychologist. The election represents an ongoing tug-a-war between psychologists and medical psychologists for control of the board.
The ballots, sent out the first time around Christmas, were due in January. However, now licensed psychologists will be receiving another ballot, for the same election and same candidates, probably sometime in the next few weeks.
Fanning told the Times that a board member expressed concern that it might be possible for someone to simply make copies of the ballots and vote more than once. Fanning said a few other psychologists also voiced the same concern. “The Executive Council decided it would be best to re-vote the election,” said Fanning.
“Dr. Gros and I had a phone conference with two of the board members to discuss this,” Fanning said. “We were subsequently advised that the board would like to discuss the election at its January 24, 2014 meeting.”
LPA sent a member to attend but the police closed the Interstate and she was caught in traffic and missed the meeting. “I inquired about any feedback the board might have for us,” said Fanning, “and was told we would receive notification from Kelly Parker, which we have not yet received.”
The Times asked Executive Director Parker about the matter and she declined to comment, suggesting contacting LPA.
“The new ballots are ready to go out,” Fanning said. “We have not yet announced this to the membership simply because we want to make sure everything is nailed down procedurally, including our communication with the board.”
“We very definitely do not want any further complications in the electoral process, and do not want there to be confusion or misunderstanding on the part of the psychologists of the state about what we’re doing and why. We are ready to send the ballots out when we receive communication from the board regarding details of the notification process.”
Fanning noted that the LPA Executive Council regrets having to repeat the balloting process, and takes full responsibility for the error.
The Times submitted a Records request to LPA regarding communications about the election.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
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.”
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 6. Source pages: 2.
It’s a journalist’s job to be a snoop. The late Nicholas Tomalin famously said, "The only qualities essential for real success in journalism are rat-like cunning, a plausible manner, and a little literary ability."
While I’m not very good at any of these, I’m working to become a better snoop. Sean Lane and his group at LSU who study lies and detection from the cognitive psychology perspective are doing some fascinating work around these behaviors. If you’ve have been following the sociobiologists on the evolved mechanisms for cheating and detection, you see how it fits well with social theory and the Star Wars trilogy.
So recently, when rumbling in LPA led to me being asked, very politely, just how I’d come by the information of who was running for the psychology board, I was a bit surprised. I’m usually the one asking the questions. My first response was to feel flattered. All really good journalists sooner or later become the object of someone else’s detection efforts. Since I’d like to be a good journalist, this seemed like a step in the right direction.
However, then it dawned on me that someone was thinking that something improper had occurred. I’m just as improper as the next person but that rankled me. Board elections are public business.
It didn’t help my bad mood when I got the “protected by attorney-client privilege” from the psychology board director about the supervision issue. I really dislike that answer.
I’m not sure if the rumblings in LPA have been resolved or not, but I sent them a request for documents to see what I can find out about what the heck is going on.
While I was at it, I read the laws again about open meetings and public documents. These are really great laws, and reflect the best of who we are and strive to be in this country.
In their 1940 text, The Law of Newspapers, Arthur and Crosman wrote, “The principle of the freedom of the press as it exists today in this country, and in other democracies, is the result of a long and bitter struggle between those who believed in civil rights and constituted authority which feared the exercise of those rights.” The battle was not only over the individual’s right to speak, write, and publish his thoughts, “but primarily to provide for the people as a whole a means of protecting themselves from the tyranny of arbitrary and oppressive government. In this––the freedom to express dissatisfaction with the acts of government, and to expose improper, illegal, or corrupt acts of governmental officers––lie one of the great purposes of this principle and its tremendous value to all people who live in a democracy.”
Open meetings and public records laws support the inherent right of the public to be informed about how government conducts itself and its affairs. People have an unequivocal right, set forth in the constitution, to know what those in power are doing and why. Court rulings have shown that the Public Records Act must be liberally interpreted to enlarge, rather than restrict, the public’s access to information.
Now I also have the problem of another “attorney-client” protection when it comes to the psychology board explaining the reasoning about why psychology interns can be supervised by people who don’t have a state psychology license.
Of course it relates to Act 251, like the mysterious memo that the board has refused to release, first protected by one legal reason, then protected by another reason. (Mark Twain said, “If you tell the truth you don’t have to remember what you said.”)
Protected by attorney-client privilege? What does that really mean psychologically? “This is really, truly none of your business,” “We refuse to be accountable–go suck an egg,” or “We are cheating.”
I wouldn’t keep asking except for one thing: It is my sincere belief that the board made the wrong decisions and those decisions were made for political reasons and not for valid reasons. I’ve had to sweat it out at the board to try and get answers, but I’m a little wiser now.
Aside from disputes about the supervision of interns, the issue of openness is much more profound.
AA has a great truism: “Secrets make us sick.” The phrase captures both the fact that deception of others can often lead us to self- deception and vice versa, and that either can then lead us to be vulnerable to problems in our relationships, our mental health, or our character.
We aren’t simply responsible for ourselves. As the family-therapists I interviewed for this issue said, nothing exists in isolation.
We are also responsible for the norms of our community.
We should embrace the principles in the open meetings and public records laws, because embedded in those laws are the time-honored principles for living well in a community and a country.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 6. Source pages: 5.
“We are currently considering changing the Emeritus language during legislative session. The change would include requiring Emeritus licensees to obtain continuing education but would still allow them to renew annually for a reduced fee,” state psychology board director Ms. Kelly Parker told the Times.
Currently those psychologists over 65 with the Emeritus status, who practice part-time, do not have to obtain continuing education units.
Parker noted several reasons that continuing education is required, including keeping pace with emerging issues and technologies, and developing competences.
“The Board believes that with the recent CE rule change, obtaining CE's will be easier and less costly than expected,” Parker said.
While a number of senior psychologists have raised objections, several sources suggest that this is likely to be changed in the upcoming legislative session.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 6. Source pages: 6.
The Louisiana Coalition Against Human Trafficking will host “Fight Human Trafficking: The Northshore Human Trafficking Conference,” at the First Baptist Church of Mandeville on Saturday, February 8, 2014.
The conference is free and open to the public and will feature leaders from various community organizations including law enforcement. First-hand accounts from former victims are to be highlighted.
Psychologist Dr. Rafael Salcedo is the co-founder of the Louisiana Coalition Against Human Trafficking, a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting this crime. The Coalition was created to develop awareness and understanding about the tragedy of human trafficking and in particular child sex trafficking, also called Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking (DMST).
One of the main goals of the conference is to inform the community about the prevalence of child sex trafficking. “This seems timely given the fact that January has been designated by President Obama as Human Trafficking Awareness Month,” said Salcedo.
“Part of our mission includes establishing a therapeutic group home to treat victims of DMST,” said Salcedo. “To that end, we have acquired a large home in the greater New Orleans area, and are in the process of completing permits, licensure requirements, etc. to make the home operational.”
Dr. Rafael Salcedo and wife Beth told the Times that they invite all those in the community to attend this free conference. To register go to lacaht.org. (See ad next page.)
The couple received the Times’ 2013 Community Award for Altruism, honoring their efforts to stop child sex trafficking and to offer genuine help to these young victims.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 6. Source pages: 8.
The Governor will increase healthcare funding for the next fiscal year in his budget, announced last week. This includes the promise of no provider rate cuts and no reductions in Medicaid eligibility.
The Executive Budget will provide an additional $26 million to expand access to home and community-based waiver services. Overall, the budget includes more than $606 million in spending on these waivers, an increase of almost 6 percent when compared to the current year budget, according to the announcement.
This money will enable the Department of Health and Hospitals (DHH) to begin filling over 2,250 previously frozen waiver slots (including all legislatively authorized slots), adding 200 new NOW waiver slots, and reducing the current waiting list by over 4,000 individuals, said the memo authors.
The Governor reviewed details of the implementation of the private partnerships that replaced the state run charity hospitals, saying that the program was working.
The announcement also outlined operations of the state’s Bayou Health program, “with nearly 900,000 enrollees transitioned from the legacy fee-for-service Medicaid program to a health plan of their choice.”
The Louisiana Behavioral Health Partnership has provided a new approach to both delivering and financing behavioral health services, drawing on the strengths of the private, public and non-profit sectors. This will provide enhanced access to a more complete and effective array of evidence- based behavioral health services and supports, while also improving individual health outcomes, said the announcement.
Within the LBHP, OBH launched the Coordinated System of Care (CSoC) in five regions to better coordinate comprehensive care for children and youth with significant behavioral health challenges or co-occurring disorders who are in, or at-risk of, out of home placement. Statewide implementation of CSoC is anticipated to be completed by the end of FY 14, noted the announcement.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 5, No. 6. Source pages: 8.
StudentsFirst, a non-profit education policy group that evaluates states on whether the right policy environments are in place to best serve students and raise achievement levels, gave Louisiana their top spot in a State Policy Report Card ranking, announced in January.
“Louisiana has established itself as a national leader for creating innovative and important student-centered education policies,” the group wrote. “The state has adopted meaningful educator evaluations, and it requires districts to base all personnel decisions, as well as compensation structures, on classroom effectiveness. Louisiana is also a leader for empowering parents with choice and information.”
The group graded hard, with the top grade of a B–.
Louisiana ranked first with an overall grade of B– and GPA of 2.92. Florida ranked second with a GPA of 2.71. Indiana was third with 2.48 (C+), and Rhode Island was fourth.
StudentsFirst writes, “Our mission is to build a national movement to defend the interests of children in public education and pursue transformative reform, so that America has the best education system in the world.” To view the report: http://reportcard.studentsfirst.org
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.