Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 11. Source pages: 8.
Due to an administration problem at the state Register, the state psychology board could not publish the rule changes for continuing education in June, explained Executive Director, Kelly Parker. The board expects to publish rule changes in the July issue of the Louisiana Register. The changes will include an expansion of types of training that meet requirements, and an increase of hours from 30 to 40. The public will have a period to give comments after the Notice is published, which should now be about July 20.
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Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 11. Source pages: 8.
Dr. Gary Gintner, Associate Professor and Program Leader of the Counseling Program at Louisiana State University, presented at the Ohio Psychological Association, June 28, in Columbus Ohio. The workshop, “DSM-5: A User’s Guide Workshop,” was hosted by The National Psychologist and the Ohio Psychological Association.
Dr. Gintner is currently the DSM-5 Task Force Chair for the American Mental Health Counselors Association and a nationally recognized trainer on the DSM. As Chair, he has provided responses for the DSM-5 development for the American Psychiatric Association.
Gintner has published on differential diagnosis, mood disorders, substance abuse, and best practices for treatment of psychiatric and substance use disorders.
“The DSM-5 is really a major change,” Gintner explained to the Times. “It’s probably in the range of change of DSM-3. There is a major paradigm shift going on.”
“They are trying to include the latest evidence on how disorders present and how they unfold,” he said. “You’ll see a different organization than people are used to. One example is that the anxiety disorders of DSM-IV have been separated into three chapters: anxiety disorders, such as panic, phobias; obsessive-compulsive and related disorders––OCD, hoarding; and trauma and stressor related disorders– –PTSD and adjustment disorder.”
“They infused a more developmental perspective,” he said. “The idea is that when clinicians go into the manual they will get a better idea of how disorders present across the lifespan.”
Dr. Gintner has conducted workshops on the DSM since the early 1990s. He has provided training for the American Counseling Association, the American Mental Health Counseling Association, and many state associations, including Marriage and Family Therapy state associations.
The National Psychologist, a national newspaper for the mental health community, contacted Gintner and asked if he could provide a workshop for the Ohio association.
Dr. Gary Gintner (Courtesy photo)
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Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 11. Source pages: 10.
Dr. Emily Sandoz and members of the Louisiana Contextual Science Research Group from the University of Louisiana–Lafayette presented their work and chaired activities at the recent 39th Annual Convention of the Association for Behavior Analysis International. The convention was held May 24–28, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
The group presented 14 papers, chaired six symposia and four panels, and provided one training workshop at the conference.
“All of our work is focused on the psychological flexibility model, and the learning processes that contribute to flexibility and inflexibility,” Sandoz explained to the Times. “The research we presented this year included the application of the flexibility model and related learning processes to understanding a broad range of human behaviors including body image disturbance, valued living, parenting, stigma academic anxiety, and community response to local tragedy.”
“I think it's incredibly important for students being trained as scientists to experience the process of research from conceptualization to publication,” Sandoz said. “This means that the same students who collect data for my workgroup have the opportunity to present those data at scholarly conferences, and to work with me on writing those data up for publication. This allows them to not only directly experience the tedium, frustration and incredible gratification that are part of the research process, but to contextualize those experiences in the broader context of our international scientific community.”
Those attending the conference this year for the UL Lafayette group were: Skylar Fusilier who presented research, Shiloh Eastin who presented research and chaired a symposium, and Emmie Hebert who presented a conceptual paper, co- authored several research presentations, and chaired a symposium.
Stephanie Caldas, Michelle Jeanis, Jhuan Marcantel, Danielle Moyer, Kevin Murray, and Sunni Primeaux all presented research and chaired either a symposium or panel.
Emmy LeBleu, Ashlyne Mullen, Emily Squyres, and Katie Thibeaux presented research or conceptual papers.
Also attending from the larger ULL community were Rick Perkins, Ph.D., Dave Greenway, Ph.D., and Jillian Jocobelli.
“Every research project we do shares the same theoretical orientation––all from perspective of the psychological flexibility model, Relational Frame Theory,” Dr. Sandoz explained to the Times. But then each student chooses a topic that is of interest to him or her individually.
“I believe this contributes to their investment in the work, and their success as student scientists. I think so far, this is supported, as 10 of the 15 undergrads who have worked with me in the past two years are currently in graduate school, and my first graduate student was just placed in a PhD. program in Clinical Psychology,” Sandoz noted.
“And as far as scientific communities go, ours are pretty amazing,” she said.
Louisiana Contextual Science Research Group (LCSRG) was founded three years ago by Dr. Emily Sandoz with the mission to support the personal and professional development of its affiliates through training scientific inquiry and skills in keeping with the Contextual Behavioral Science (CBS) model, and in doing so, to make a contribution to the alleviation of human suffering. Affiliates of the LCSRG include undergraduate research assistants, graduate research assistants, and research affiliates. All affiliates play a key role in research development, analyzing their own experiences from a CBS perspective to devise specific research questions. They also design research protocols, collect and analyze data, and disseminate the lab’s research through scholarly presentations and publications.
Dr. Sandoz is an Assistant Professor of Psychology and Associate Editor of the Journal of Contextual Behavioral Science.
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Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 11. Source pages: 10.
The Predoctoral Internship Program in Professional Psychology located in Lake Charles, Louisiana acquired membership in Association of Postdoctoral and Internship centers (APPIC) in May of this year. The program is in its first full year of operation and will graduate its interns; Kimberly Hutchinson and Thomas DuVall in September 2013. Each will have completed a 2000-hour internship program where they offered supervised services at areas hospitals and agencies in the Southwest Louisiana Region. The internship program has accepted two doctoral psychology interns who will begin their rotations this fall.
Supervising faculty include area psychologists Andrew Thrasher, Ph.D., Allyson Bennett, Ph.D., Ray Hawkins, Ph.D., ABPP, Larry Dilks, Ph.D., Darrell Turner, Ph.D., and Jerry Whiteman, Ph.D.
The pilot program was initiated in 2011 to test the feasibility of the internship program and investigating if the Lone Star Model of community-based internship would work in the Southwest Louisiana community. The application of community based activities proved workable and the first intern class began in September of 2012. The second year of operation has brought greater community awareness, interest, and funding.
The internship program was started due to the large number of clinical psychology doctoral students who were finishing coursework and could not find an internship placement. The internship placement shortage has be a developing problem over the last several decades, with increasing awareness due to the large number of students left without internships as a result of a supply and demand problem.
The advisory board consists of Cameron Melville, Ph.D. Paul Matthews, Ph.D., Terry Fowler, JD, Kashi Yadalam, MD, and Valarie Waldmier Ph.D.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 11. Source pages: 14.
We have big problems when it comes to health, healthcare, and healthcare costs in the US.
We rank 1st in health costs, but last in industrialized nations for many measures of health status. A report in the New England Journal of Medicine noted that 18 percent of patients are harmed by medical care.
In 2000 the Institutes of Medicine reported that medical errors were the eighth leading cause of death in the US. An estimated 450,000 preventable medication-related events occur in the US yearly, according to Mercola.com. He notes that 3.68 billion prescriptions were filled in the US in 2009, averaging to 12 prescriptions for every person in the country.
According to the Kaiser Foundation and the CDC, the main drivers of health care costs are technology and prescription drugs, chronic disease, aging of the population, and administrative costs.
Kaiser also points out that health costs are not equally distributed. In a given year, it is the top 5 percent who spends almost 50 percent of all health care dollars. On the other end, 80 percent spend about $4500 or less. And nearly half, the bottom 50 percent, spend only $829 or less.
Will Obamacare solve our real problems? Not likely. Overlaying one bad system with another bad system won’t get at the underlying misalignments. Third-party health payments now seem hopelessly meshed with catastrophic coverage, each requiring different interventions. The consumer is uninformed and herded by his fast think brain toward superficial solutions.
I’m reminded of a recent Medscape column by Dr. John Marshall. In “Walking Improves Cancer Outcomes,” he noted a study in Journal of Clinical Oncology that people who had colon cancer did much better if they exercised. He wrote that with 8.75 hours of exercise per week, the risk reduction is 0.58. “That is better than any chemotherapy we have given to anyone,” he said.
But only a consumer could make such a choice, not easy in a culture that promotes high tech, costly symptom treatments. And everyone knows that lifestyle changes can be much more difficult and complicated than taking a pill, or for that matter, going in for chemo.
Looking at the most radical changes I’ve seen in my lifetime, with the impact on the taxpayer and business notwithstanding, I’m astounded that anyone would attempt such a thing. It seems both naïve and tremendously overconfident. I can tell you from experience that even a simple, well thought out intervention in a large social system is extremely tricky. There is just too much about human behavior that is invisible and unpredictable.
And, I’m no economist, but just roughly looking at the subsidies offered I think the government is going to need a bigger printing press.
Having said that, I think that there are opportunities for those in the psychological and behavioral sciences to help make things work better, to help align incentives, and help uncover more of the important variables in the healthcare industry.
Obamacare might just be a springboard for some of the more innovative and creative people in our community to build in win-win approaches to our large-scale problems.
Where does health care spending come from? Most of the healthcare spending in a given year is by the top 5 percent of the population, as shown in this graph from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The bottom 50 percent spends less than $829. The bottom 80 percent spends $4,639 or less. According to the Kaiser and the CDC, the main drivers of health care costs are technology and prescription drugs, chronic disease, aging of the population, and administrative costs.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Community Leaders Talk About Violence Prevention June 28 Louisiana often ranked most violent state
The Louisiana Coalition for Violence Prevention hosted a meeting and training session for key community members on Friday, June 28 in Baton Rouge. The event was held at the Baton Rouge Area Foundation on North 4th Street.
Approximately 40 attendees from around the state represented psychology, counseling, social work, school psychology, psychiatry, law enforcement, legal, ministry, and research scientists. The participants listened to a presentation about violence, titled “Preventing Violence in Louisiana: Information, Ideas, and Inspiration,” and participated in a group discussion about the issues for the state.
“Violence is a mental health problem,” said Dr. John Simoneaux, the main presenter at the meeting and Coalition steering committee member. “Have we fixed the mental health problem?” he asked the group. “No,” he said. “The mistake we’ve made is that we haven’t delivered what we know –our knowledge and skills– to the public. We are the ones closest to the problem.”
“The person who goes out and kills someone, or kills five people––someone close to that person knew,” he said. Simoneaux is owner of Professional Training Resources, based in Pineville, LA.
He told the group that only 17 percent of the people in the state needing mental health services receive the necessary services.
“You are here because you, or your organization, are considered to be among the leaders in Louisiana of behavior science experts,” he said to attendees.
Dr. Bryan Gros, who introduced the steering committee members, said that this was a major step in bringing the behavioral health community together to deal with the issues of violence. “I’m privileged to be a part of this effort,” he said. Gros is past president of the Louisiana Psychological Association.
Cindy Nardini, licensed professional counselor and legislative chair for the Louisiana Counseling Association, explained that the Coalition’s efforts have been supported by the legislature in the form of a Senate Concurrent Resolution authored by Senator Mills. “We did not want a hard legislative measure, but only a soft show of support. We did not want to push people to do something they do not want to do.” She said the Coalition wanted to engage people voluntarily.
During the day, Simoneaux presented facts about violence in Louisiana. He noted that a May 7, 2012 issue of U.S.A. News identified Louisiana as the “Most Violent State in the U.S.” This was based on homicide rates, violent crime rates, and incarceration rates, as well as availability of firearms.
He reported that homicide was the second leading cause of death in Louisiana between 2008 and 2010, for persons between the ages of 10-24. And also that suicide is the third leading cause of death in the state for this age group.
The murder rate in New Orleans is 20% higher than Detroit, and nine times higher than New York and San Francisco, Simoneaux explained. And, Louisiana ranked 1st for gun violence and 2nd for murders of police officers.
Louisiana has 13,000 received domestic violence services, more than 3,500 orders for protection issued, and 1,562 forcible rapes reported, he said. In 2010 Louisiana ranked first in the nation with a homicide rate of 2.53 per 100,000 for females murdered by males, more than double the national average.
“We have a mental health problem,” he said. “ And a child-rearing problem, a family problem, a problem with our kin, and it is our responsibility to use our science, our skills, and our knowledge to deliver the answers and the help that we have to offer,” he noted.
The Coalition members proposed a plan to increase skill levels for behavioral health service providers that increases the effective and early detection of potentially violent individuals.
Simoneaux and others pointed out that the approach would not cost anything and would not involve government. “We do not want government to try and solve this for us, we want to provide solutions before faulty solutions are imposed by others,” he noted.
“The concern we have had is if the legislature tries to fix things, then we’ll have to wade through all sorts of additional problems,” he said. “The legislature is removed from the problem, this distance results in inefficient solutions.”
John Strain, licensed professional counselor from Mandeville, said, “This approach doesn’t increase the resources for the problem, it makes the resources we have more effective.”
Psychological scientist Dr. Alex Cohen from Louisiana State University (LSU) pointed out that eliminating violence was an ambitious goal. Dr. Julie Buckner also from LSU described some limitations with training approaches where even those who are adequately trained do not always apply their training.
The Coalition steering members agreed to take the ideas from the participants and blend them into the next plans.
One of the steering group members, Dr. Yael Banai, past president of the Louisiana School Psychological Association, noted the positive interactions in the multi-disciplinary meeting. She said, “To me perhaps the most important feature is that this initial in-service represents the work of a broad based coalition of mental health professionals who have plied their efforts across the artificial professional-organizational lines that often divide us, in service of the greater good.”
Industrial-organizational psychologist, Dr. Mkay Bonner, (L) and husband Sgt. Mark Johnson, Public Information Officer and Crimestoppers with the Monroe Police Department, talk with Dr. John Simoneaux (R) at the recent meeting of the Louisiana Coalition for Violence Prevention. Ms. Michelle Faust, LCSW, and regional administrator for DCFS listens to the discussion. Bonner and Johnson are Co-Coordinators for the Northeast Delta Crisis Intervention Team.
About 40 attendees from around the state met, representing counseling, social work, psychology school psychology, research scientists and others. The participants listened to a presentation about violence, titled “Preventing Violence in Louisiana: Information, Ideas, and Inspiration,” and participated in a group discussion about the issues for the state. Above, Cindy Nardini, LPC, talks about the Coalition and a Senate Concurrent Resolution supporting the group.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
The American Psychological Association will hold its annual convention in Honolulu, Hawi’i, from July 31 to August 4. Louisiana professors, psychologists, graduate and undergraduate researchers will present a number of presentations and research projects.
Included this year are Tulane’s Dr. Stacy Overstreet and Dr. Bonnie Nastasi, University of Louisiana Monroe’s Dr. Karen Kopera-Frye and Dr. Bill McCown, Dr. Darlyne Nemeth, Dr. Lee Matthews, Loyola’s Dr. Janet Matthews, Drs. Greg Gormanous and Warren Lowe, Dr. Kelly Ray, and a number from LaTech including Drs. Guler Boyraz, Mary M. Livingston, Walter Buboltz, Janelle McDaniel, and Steve Jenkins.
Dr. Lee Matthews will chair a symposium, “Essential Topics for SPTAs––Ethics, Advocacy, Service, and Education.”
Monroe’s Dr. Karen Kopera- Frye and Dr. Bill McCown serve as co-authors for graduate student Janease Traylor’s research, “Surveying State Psychological Association Members for Recommendations on Membership Service.”
Additional co-authors are graduate student Sandra Dillion, and psychologists Drs. Susan Dardard and Gail Gillespie.
Loyola’s Dr. Janet Matthews will participate in a symposium, “A Blueprint for the Future––Preparation of Health Service Psychologists,” along with past APA president Dr. Carol Goodheart and chair Dr. Frank Andrasik.
Drs. Greg Gormanous and Warren Lowe will chair the symposium, “Competing Coaches and Coachees–– Mock Licensing Board Hearing.” Dr. Gormanous will take the role of Administrative Hearing Officer, and participants will play the roles of an administrative hearing officer, administrative hearing deputy, psychologist’s attorney, complainant, board attorney, and defendant.
Dr. Kelly Ray will be a participant and first author in a symposium, “Nuts and Bolts of Successful Practice––Early Career Options.”
Dr. Darlyne Nemeth will chair a symposium, “Katrina Versus Sandy––The Psychological and Neurocognitive Aftermath of Environmental Trauma.” Also participating will be Dr. Judy Kuriansky (from New York, who has been involved with Nemeth’s work in Louisiana since Katrina), Chelsie Songy, BA, and Dr. Robin Gay.
Chelsie Songy will also present her research, “Comparison of TEA-ch and TOVA Results for School Children with ADHD,” co-authored with Amber Gremillion, BS, and Dr. Nemeth. Songy and co-authors will present a comparison study of the Test of Everyday Attention in Children (TEA-ch) and Test of Variables of Attention (TOVA) in school-aged youngsters, finding that when traditional methods of ADHD assessment yield questionable results, the TEA-ch can offer valuable information.
Amber Gremillion, BS, will present her research “Using NEPSY-II Subtests to Identify Asperger’s Disorder in School-Aged Children.” Co- authors are Dr. Nemeth, C. Songy, BA, and Ayesha Khurshid, MS.
Dr. Nemeth will also present, “Deception Success: The Backdoor Approach to Forensic Neuropsychological Assessment.” Co-authors are Gremillion, Songy, and Khurshid.
Authors will discuss ways to reduce the attempts by either patients of their referral sources to obtain services under false pretenses, including: Requiring payment prior to the Initial Clinical Interview; Assessing the initial call/referral to this office; Using the HIPAA compliant forms for office rules and procedures; Addressing the deception when discovered; Discontinuing involvement in the case; and Dealing with attorneys.
Tulane’s Dr. Stacy Overstreet and Dr. Bonnie Nastasi will chair the symposium, “Social-Emotional Universal Screening––Implications for Practice in Low-Resource, High Risk Contexts.” First author, Shereen Naser, MS, will present, “Predictive Validity of the BESS Student Report Form.” Paulette Carter, LCSW, and Alexandra Sims, MS, are co-authors.
Tulane’s Meredith Summerville, MEd, will present “The Ecomap As Self-Report Mental Health Screener for Early Elementary Students,” with co-author Nastasi.
Also presenting from Tulane is Allisyn Swift, MS, with her “Self-Inflicted Injury and Suicidal Ideation in Young Children Participating in Universal Screening.” Dustin Mars, MS, is co-author. Also, Jorge Verlenden, BS, will present “Triage Strategies in Low-Resource, High-Risk Contexts,” with co-authors Patrick Bell, MS, and Elizabeth Earnshaw, MSW.
More Coverage Next Issue
In Honolulu, a scenic drive off Oahu’s east shore. This year’s American Psychological Association will meet in Honolulu. (Photo courtesy of Hawaii Tourism Authority/Tor Johnson.)
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
The first meeting of the School Specialist Task Force was held June 28 at the state psychology board in Baton Rouge.
The group began work on a survey that will guide them in certain areas. Task force chair, Dr. Rita Culross told the Times, “The purpose of the survey is to seek input from school psychologists certified through the State Department of Education and psychologists licensed through LSBEP [Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists] on the possible regulation of school specialists through LSBEP.”
The agenda for the Friday meeting also included a review of the purpose of the task force and a review of definitions and language from other states that license school psychology specialists. The group discussed guidelines and a schedule for future meetings, and also reviewed Open Meeting Law, according to the agenda.
At a recent presentation by the psychology board, previous board Chair Lee Matthews noted that the task force was created to study the possible licensure of school specialists in Louisiana. The specialist degree in school psychology is offered by LSU– Shreveport and by Nicholls State University, and requires 72 hours of graduate training and 1200 hours supervised practice.
Members of the task force are Dr. Rita Culross, Professor at LSU, representing the LSBEP; Dr. Conni Patterson, Professor of Practice at Tulane University and past president of the Louisiana School Psychology Association; Dr. Steven Welsh, retired Department head for the Department of Psychology and Counselor Education at Nicholls, and the interim Dean of the College of Education; Dr. Carmen Broussard, Associate Professor of Psychology at Nicholls; Susan Ratterree, Delegate to the National Association of School Psychologists for the Louisiana School Psychological Association; and, E. Francoise Parr, President of the Louisiana School Psychological Association.
Dr. Carmen Broussard (L) and Dr. Conni Patterson discuss ideas at the recent meeting of the LSBEP task force to study the possible regulation of specialists in school psychology. Broussard is an associate professor at Nicholls and Patterson is a professor at Tulane.
E. Francoise Parr and Dr. Steven Welsh listening to discussion at the first task force meeting of the school specialist task force. Parr is president of the Louisiana School Psychological Association and Dr. Welsh has served as dean and professor at Nicholls State University.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 11. Source pages: 16.
Having two babies 19 months apart was difficult. Two in diapers for too long strained my sense of humor. Cloth diapers for the one with sensitive skin added to the daunting responsibilities of motherhood. Going to school, doing well, getting a doctorate had been so easy. Going without sleep, without contact with the outside world, immersed in this new reality, strained my sense of order.
Fortunately, those arduous early days are long gone, and I am the proud mother of two remarkable adults. The rewards of raising them to become caring and responsible individuals are beyond measure. They are interesting and fun and wonderful. They are doing well, making their own way in life, and I have been free to enjoy my simple life in the country, and my sleep.
Being happily settled in a rural community, after years of being a mommy in a big city, has helped inspire my new media adventures. I find my immediate surroundings far more fascinating and important than what lies beyond these fields and woods, so once again I am less absorbed in the outside world. This time I'm more focused on what is happening on the land outside my door.
I do have the familiar feeling of having a couple of newborns, though. I am creating a brand new television show, "South River Stories®," and starting a brand new business, South River Stories, Inc. The show gives the business purpose and the business gives the show structure. I need both and I need to raise them to maturity.
I am living the long days and nights of early parenthood. Instead of a newly furnished nursery, I have a newly equipped office. Instead of diaper bags, I have camera bags. Instead of reading stories to my little ones, I am writing stories for a new audience. Bringing order to this new reality is hard work. I need sleep.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 10. Source pages: 8.
The state medical board issued an Advisory Opinion on May 7, requested by Dr. Jim Quillin, Chair of the Medical Psychology Advisory Committee. The Opinion confirmed that medical psychologists could use Evaluation and Management Codes, typically used by physicians for short services involving medication checks.
The May 7 notice on the medical board’s web site noted, “State law and regulations authorize medical psychologists to prescribe medications related to the treatment of mental disorders and to undertake the medical evaluations that are required to manage these medications in accordance with widely accepted standards of care. It is the Opinion of the Board accordingly that medical psychologists are authorized to utilize E/M codes when billing for services provided for management of psychiatric disorders.”
In an opinion letter obtained by the Times, signed by current medical board Executive Director Robert Marier, MD, and addressed to Chairman of the Medical Psychology Advisory Committee, Jim Quillin, PhD, MP, Dr. Marier wrote that the board reviewed Quillin’s request on December 3, 2012. According to the letter, Dr. Quillin had asked the medical board for an advisory opinion as to whether the Medical Psychology Practice Act “allows for MPs to perform the single system psychiatric examination as defined by CMS.” [CMS: Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.]
Marier wrote that the board reviewed the state laws and regulations, the Medical Psychology Practice Act, and the Louisiana Administrative Code for Medical Psychologists, noting that these, “… authorize medical psychologists to prescribe medications for the treatment of psychiatric conditions. The requirements for licensure as a medical psychologist include training in components of the history and physical examination and in the assessment of findings that relate to the medications that they prescribe. Indeed medical psychologists are required to undertake such evaluations by way of meeting the widely accepted standard of care for patients on these medications.”
“More specifically,” he wrote, “it was noted that medical psychologists assess vital signs, and appearance on most patients on medications and musculoskeletal status on patients being treated with neuroleptic agents due to risks of extrapyramidal effects, pseudo parkinsonism, tardive dyskinesia and dystonias. Needless to say a detailed psychiatric examination is undertaken on all patients.”
Dr. Marier explained that it was the opinion of the Board that Medical psychologists licensed under the Board are authorized to utilize E/M codes when billing for services provided for management of psychiatric disorders.
In February the Times reported on Magellan Health Services, the company now managing behavioral health services for the state, and the different fees listed. (See Vol 4, No 6) In that report, medical psychologists were not listed as able to bill for the 10 minutes office visit code or the office consultation code, both Evaluation and Management codes.
The 10-minute Office Visit was listed to be reimbursed at $25.73 and the 15-minute Office Consultation was listed at $43.43, two of the highest paid codes. A 15-minute Health & Behavior Intervention, listed by Magellan as reimbursed at $15.30, was one of the lowest.
The Louisiana State Board of Medical Examiners issued an opinion, requested by Dr. Jim Quillin, asking if medical psychologists could use Evaluation and Management codes. Above, a previous meeting of the Medical Psychology Advisory Committee. Dr. Quillin (L), Dr. Robert Marier (C), who is the outgoing Executive Director of the Medical Board, and Dr. Warren Lowe.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
BA Bill Passes Mental Health Courts, HB 281 Pass Criminalization Bill Stalls Legislative Session Ends June 6
Senator J. P. Morrell’s SB 134 to establish an independent board for Behavior Analysts completed its journey through the Senate and passed the House on May 28, headed for the Govenor.
The bill provides for the Louisiana Behavior Analyst Board within the Department of Health and Hospitals and authorizes enforcement of the requirement for licensure, state certification, and registration, beginning December 31, 2013. The law also sets out the procedures and standards for the licensing of Behavior Analysts, certification Assistant Behavior Analysts, and registration of line technicians. Fees are $400 for license, $250 for certification, and $50 for registration. The powers and duties of the board are outlined in the bill, including those for developing standards of practice, licensure, revocation and suspension of license, reinstatement, fines and censure by the board.
The board will consist of five behavior analysts appointed by the governor and subject to Senate confirmation. This is to include an ex officio, nonvoting member appointed by the State Board of Examiners of Psychologists. The bill notes that the Louisiana Behavior Analyst Board and the State Board of Examiners of Psychologists shall share office space, professional staff, and other resources in the operation and management of each of the respective boards.
The law will define the scope of practice as, “… the empirical identification of functional relations between behavior and environments. It uses direct observation and measurement of behavior and environment, the empirical identification of functional relations between behavior and environmental factors, known as functional assessment and analysis. Applied behavior analysis interventions are based on scientific research and the direct observation and measurement of behavior and environment. They utilize contextual factors, establishing operations, antecedent stimuli, positive reinforcement, and other consequences to help people develop new behaviors, increase or decrease existing behaviors, and emit behaviors under specific environmental conditions. The practice of behavior analysis expressly excludes psychological testing, neuropsychology, cognitive therapy, diagnosis of psychiatric conditions, psychotherapy, sex therapy, psychoanalysis, hypnotherapy, and mental health counseling or academic teaching by college or 1university staff.”
The board will be allowed to “Accept grants, donations, or gifts of money or services from public or private individuals or organizations or from any other sources to be utilized for the purposes of the board. Such monies shall be deposited into the treasury of the board.”
The law will exempt other professionals. “Other human service professionals who are licensed, certified, or registered by the state of Louisiana, provided such individuals are working within the scope of practice of their profession and the scope of their training and competence.”
A specific paragraph was added for psychologists. “An individual licensed to practice psychology within the state, so long 1as the applied behavior analysis services provided by the licensed psychologist are within the licensed psychologist's education, training and expertise. This includes individuals acting under the extended authority and direction of licensed psychologists. Licensed psychologists and those acting under their extended authority are prohibited from representing themselves as behavior analysts, licensed behavior analysts, assistant behavior analysts, or state certified assistant behavior analysts without being duly licensed or state certified.”
Senator J.P. Morrell emerged as a leading opponent to a failed attempt in 2012 by the Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists to place Behavior Analysts under the psychology board. Morrell put forth a resolution forming a study commission, with his wife, Ms. Catherine Morrell as Vice Chair.
Work of the Commission led to a decision to place behavior analysts (BAs) with the state board for licensed professional counselors (LPC Board), thrashed out over six months of meetings in the Study Commission.
However, this direction was abandoned sometime in late February 2013 after negotiations reached an impasse. Representatives of the Louisiana Behavior Analysis Association held firm on an issue regarding the national certification, and the LPC board held to their need for “equivalent” language to allow them flexibility in certain situations.
This impasse necessitated that a fallback option to be worked out by Senator J. P. Morrell’s office and wife Catherine Morrell, Vice Chair for the Commission. The fallback position was to merge the BAs with the psychology board, an option that had been put forth by the LSBEP (Louisiana State Board of Examiners of Psychologists) during rapid and heated negotiations in November 2012.
However this option was nixed when it failed to gain the support of the Louisiana Psychological Association after President Dr. Bryan Gros and Legislative Chair Dr. Alicia Pellegrin asked members for their opinions. Members expressed concerns about non-psychologists on the psychology board.
This sequence of events led Senator Morrell and Ms. Morrell to shift to the third option, that of an independent BA board.
The option for an independent BA board had been championed by Dr. Grant Gautreaux, president of the Louisiana Behavior Analysts Association throughout the discussions of the Study Commission. He presented that option in November to Commission members. However in December the members voted 15 to 0 against the independent board option, amid some views that the BAs numbers could not sustain a board.
At a recent meeting of the Louisiana Psychological Association, Senator Morrell said that working with the different groups in the mental health area should be like working in a team, but instead, “It is like warring fiefdoms.” He also praised his wife’s efforts in helping those in the mental health community to get along.
Senator J.P. Morrell speaking at the recent psychology convention. Senator Morrell and wife Catherine took an active role in the legislation for regulation of behavior analysts. Executive Director of the state psychology board, Ms. Kelly Parker and Dr. Grant Gautreau, president of the Louisiana Behavior Analysis Association at the psychology board meeting last year. The Behavior Analyst negotiations took a number of twists and turns. Above, Dr. Grant Gautreau (R) confers with Dr. Dolleen Day-Keohane, also a member of the Louisiana Behavior Analysis Association, at a meeting of the Behavioral Analysts Licensure and Regulation Study Commission. Left is Dr. Denise Arellano who represented the Psychology Department at McNeese University. Psychology board members discuss the regulation of behavioral analysts after a legislative effort by the board in 2012 caused a negative public reaction to the proposed plan, lead by Dr. John Courtney. L to R: Dr. Marc Zimmermann, Dr. John Courtney, and Chair, Dr. Lee Matthews.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
Originally published: . Volume 4, No. 10. Source pages: 8.
No comments were received by the May 24 deadline regarding the 26 pages of rule changes “noticed” in the April issue Louisiana Register, said LPC Board Executive Director, Mary Alice Olsan.
“… we have received no public comments regarding the latest NOI,” Ms. Olsan explained to the Times recently. “So far, we’re on target to publish the final rule in the July 20th LA Register.”
“It was a huge body of changes,” she noted. The main components of the changes included, “Adding and revising rules as a result of Act 320 of the 2011 Legislative Session and Act 636 of the 2012 Legislative session,” Olsan said. For example, this included placing the current emergency rules into the upcoming permanent rules, and dealing with other matters regarding the current Emergency Rules, she explained.
Olsan also noted that adding, and changing aspects of current rules, was required because of Act 276 of the 2012 Legislative Session. “Allowing for endorsement of both MFT [Marriage & Family Therapist] Intern and Counselor Intern hours,” she noted was one example.
“As of now, we cannot accept any hours completed by an intern in another state under the supervision of someone other than a Louisiana Board- approved supervisor (Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor for Counselor Interns, Licensed Marriage & Family Therapist- Supervisor for MFT Interns). This is a rule we’ve been wanting to promulgate to accommodate those moving to Louisiana and is a necessary rule addition to be in compliance with Act 276.”
Finally, the rule changes related to professional ethics. “The majority of the rule changes are related to updating the LPC [Licensed Professional Counselor] Code of Conduct based on the newest version of the ACA [American Counseling Association] Code of Ethics,” Ms. Olsan told the Times.
“We also just cleaned up a lot of confusing and/or unnecessary language,” she said. “The LPC Board Rules Committee systematically reviewed every rule currently in place to determine what needed to be changed, removed, added, and revised to be in compliance with the new laws referenced above.
“We’re hopeful the rules in the April 20th NOI will be promulgated officially as new rules soon,” Olsan said.
Ex Director of LPC Bd, Mary Alice Olsan
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.
For the third time, Tulane’s Dr. Janet Ruscher has pulled off a major success as the Committee Chair of the Association for Psychological Science Convention, that just wrapped up last month in Washington, D.C.
“The conference was a terrific success,” she told the Times, “––great energy, record attendance, excellent balance across the programs.”
She might be getting good at this. Dr. Ruscher also chaired the convention for the growing organization in 2003 and 2004.
“When I first chaired the convention committee in 2002 for the 2003 convention, I had limited administrative experience,” she said. “Since then I’ve served nine years as Department Chair and now am wrapping up my first year as an Associate Dean. “What I know now that I didn’t know then is the wonderful fortune of good support staff,” she noted. “APS has an amazing team. Good staff are almost invisible, so one risks taking them for granted. Don’t take them for granted.”
This year’s APS convention drew a host of researchers from around Louisiana. Under- graduates, graduate students, and professors in psychology from Centenary, LaTech, Loyola, Tulane, U. of Louisiana–Lafayette, U. of New Orleans, and Xavier University demonstrated their research skill and contributions for the premier scientific organization for those in psychology.
The APS convention revolved around the theme of “Regulating the World, Regulating the Mind,” “Building a Better Psychological Science: Good Date Practices and Replicability,” and the “Biological Bases of Social Behavior.” The conference was awash with big names in psychology, including Michael Gazzaniga, Elaine Walker, Diane Halpern, Scott Lilienfeld, and Roy Baumeister, representing just a few of the keynote speakers.
Each theme addressed key topics in psychological science and included a variety of distinguished speakers, roundtable discussions, and related poster presentation sessions.
The Times asked Ruscher what had been some of the most rewarding aspects of being the conference chair this year. “Because the cross-cutting symposia, presidential symposium, workshops, and other programming integrate across sub- disciplines,” she explained, “the convention committee adopts a view from 20,000 feet.”
“We have the opportunity to look at the commonalities across psychological science, and enjoy the interdisciplinary experience,” she said. “For example, in discussions with the committee, we realized that all of us talk about ‘regulation’ and that the similarities would draw a wide audience while the differences would stretch the audience’s perspectives in new directions. Opportunities to do this––effectively––are rare.”
While noting that the high points for her were probably the cross-cutting symposia, she also pointed out that, “Given the popularity of the Bobo doll last year, I wagered that people would enjoy the Milgram machine.”
Attendees had the chance to see Milgram’s Simulated Shock Generator that was on loan from the Center for the History of Psychology of University of Akron.
What were the biggest challenges? “The committee holds teleconferences at least one a month,” she noted, “which can be challenging with an international committee.”
“At one point,” she explained, “our teleconferencers were dispersed from Turkey to Texas–and we were lucky that one member had returned to North America from Australia.”
“Next year’s conference in San Francisco, chaired by Wendy Mendes, promises to be outstanding,” Dr. Ruscher said.
Dr. Janet Ruscher is the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, School of Science and Engineering, at Tulane University. Prior to her latest position she served at the Chair of the Tulane Psychology Department and also is Professor in the department.
Louisiana Tech counseling psychology graduates student Terri Duck (L) and Laura Harris look over one of their poster presentations. Ms. Harris presented at this yearʼs Association for Psychological Science recently in DC. Ms. Duck is president of the Counseling Psychology Studentsʼ Organization at LaTech. She was chair of the recent North Louisiana Behavioral & Social Sciences Conference held at LaTech.
This article is part of a historical newspaper archive. Read the original issue for its original layout, photographs and graphics.