NASW-NYS and Health Assets Management, Inc. Announces Strategic Partnership

Message from Executive Director, NASWNYS

From the Desk of the Executive Director:
NASW-NYS and Health Assets Management, Inc. Announces Strategic Partnership
Strategic partnership formed to support members in areas of mental health practice management

Dear NASW-NYS Members,

I am extremely pleased to announce a valuable new benefit for members of the New York State Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

NASW-NYS, the largest membership association of professional social workers in New York State, has partnered with Health Assets Management, Inc., a leading billing and practice management organization based in Kingston, N.Y., to offer you support in various areas of mental health practice management.

(L-R: Peter Chernack, DSW, LCSW-R, NASW-NYS Board President, Carmel Gold, LCSW-R, President and CEO of Health Assets Management, Inc., and Ron Bunce, LMSW, NASW-NYS Executive Director)

First announced at our June Board Meeting, this new partnership will combine Health Assets Management Inc.’s expertise in billing and practice management and the Chapter’s commitment to helping social workers meet their professional needs and supporting members in the important work that we do.

These benefits include: 

    • Health Assets Management, Inc. will offer discounted services for NASW-NYS Members

 

    • Health Assets Management, Inc. will offer a one-time consultation, up to one hour, at no charge for NASW-NYS Members

 

    • NASW-NYS and Health Assets Management, Inc. will collaborate in the development of potential information and professional materials to advance quality practice and support practitioners

 

It was after careful thought and consideration that NASW-NYS decided to partner with Health Assets Management, Inc. to offer these valuable benefits. With so many serious mental health policy issues and regulatory considerations, we are confident the expertise of Carmel Gold, LCSW and the staff at Health Assets Management, Inc. will help us stay current with changes in clinical practice and billing management and most importantly: free up your time and energy to spend practicing and serving your clients, and less time dealing with insurance companies and paperwork.

I urge you to take advantage of this valuable opportunity, should you believe it can meet your professional and practice needs.

Do not hesitate to contact the Chapter at info@naswnys.org or 518-463-4741 if you have any questions regarding this partnership. For more information about Health Assets Management, Inc., please visit www.healthassets.com or contact info@healthassets.com

Sincerely,

RBSignature

Ron Bunce, LMSW
Executive Director

Social workers urge N.Y. to require licenses for its mental health providers
Advocates call for additional training to meet requirements

By Claire Hughes Published 8:55 pm, Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Albany

If you are being treated for depression or bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, private health insurance will cover it only if your mental health practitioner is licensed.

But if you are being treated through a state agency, the professional seeing you does not have to be licensed.

Social workers who treat mental illness were not required to be licensed until 2002. At the time state agency officials said it would be too costly and onerous to meet that requirement, so they were given some extra time.

It’s been 14 years. Professional societies of social workers say that’s long enough. They’re pushing for an end to the exemptions as part of the state budget due at the end of the month.

The issue primarily affects New Yorkers using Medicaid, the government-sponsored health insurance program for low-income Americans, because they are most likely to be treated by a state agency.

“This practice is discriminatory and dangerous, and it disproportionately impacts poor and minority communities,” said Ron Bunce, executive director of the New York State Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.

Budgets proposed by the governor and state Assembly continue the exemption for another five years, until 2021.

A proposal in the state Senate requiring licenses for providers with authority to diagnose mental illness would go into effect this year.

Licensed clinical social workers must go through training that unlicensed professionals do not. They must have master’s degrees in social work, pass licensure exams and spend three years under the supervision of a licensed clinical social worker, according to Bunce.

In urging a further extension of the exemption, state agencies argued that the licensure requirement would be too costly — upwards of $360 million — to implement. The exemptions apply to any organization operated, funded or regulated by the state Office of Mental Health, Office of Children and Family Services, Office for Peoplewith Developmental Disabilities, Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services, Office for the Aging, Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance and Department of Corrections and Community Supervision. (The state Health Department already requires its social workers providing mental health services to have licenses.)

DOCCS, for instance, said that nearly 300 positions in its Alcohol and Substance Abuse Treatment Services program would need to be licensed to meet the requirement. DOCCS has already been unable to fill vacant positions for psychologists and licensed social workers to meet a state mandate to provide mental health services for incarcerated sex offenders, the agency reported. Many current workers would likely be unwilling to invest in the training required to become licensed, it argued.

The social workers’ organization concedes that not all staff who provide mental health services need the training a license entails. NASW is asking that professionals providing diagnoses be licensed and that patients get at least one face-to-face meeting with them, said Karin Carreau, director of policy for the NASW state chapter.

Carreau described what she characterized as the exemption’s absurdity with this analogy: Imagine having a heart attack and going to an emergency room, only to hear, “We really can’t afford to hire licensed physicians, but we have some employees who passed biology to help you.”

chughes@timesunion.com • 518-454-5417 • @hughesclaire

 

 

Source:  Social workers urge N.Y. to require licenses for its mental health providers, Times Union, 3.23.16
http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Social-workers-urge-N-Y-to-require-licenses-for-7004299.php

NASW-NYS In the News: Requiring Licensed Social Workers

By Capital Tonight Staff
Friday, March 18, 2016 at 05:23 PM EDT

It wasn’t until 2004 that you had to be licensed to be a social worker in New York State. At the time, several state agencies that deal with social work told the state they would need more time to adjust their workforce. So lawmakers gave them a six-year extension. After those six years, the agencies said they needed even more time, so lawmakers gave them another three years. Then they gave them another three years. And in the governor’s budget proposal and the Assembly’s one-house budget bill this year, they are recommending an additional five years from now to get into compliance. Advocates are calling on lawmakers to reject the extension, saying these agencies have had long enough to adjust. Ron Bunce is the Executive Director of the New York State chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and Karin Carreau is a policy consultant for the group.

Source: Capitol Tonight

Press Release: ADVOCATES CALL FOR AN IMMEDIATE END TO PROTRACTED DELAYS IN AGENCY COMPLIANCE WITH LICENSURE MANDATE FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDERS

NASWNYS, Press

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                           

ADVOCATES CALL FOR AN IMMEDIATE END TO PROTRACTED DELAYS IN AGENCY COMPLIANCE WITH LICENSURE MANDATE FOR MENTAL HEALTH PROVIDERS

A proposed 19-Year Exemption is Discriminatory and Underscores an Acceptance of
Inadequate Standards in the Provision of Mental Health Services

 

Albany (March 16, 2016) – A press conference was held today by The New York State and City chapters of the National Association of Social Workers, the New York Society for Clinical Social Work and the New York State Association of Deans of the Schools of Social Work, to oppose an executive budget and Assembly one house budget bill provision that would extend the exemption of licensure for those providing mental health services in state and local agencies until July 2021.

Ron Bunce, executive director of the New York State Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers said, “We find this protracted exemption unacceptable and discriminatory to the most vulnerable members of society and call for holding agencies accountable this year to the licensing requirement that was rightfully enacted in 2002 to ensure appropriate care for all New Yorkers seeking mental health services. This cannot be put off any longer.”

New Yorkers with private health insurance who need to access their mental health benefits are assured they will receive care from a qualified, licensed provider because only they are reimbursable by insurance companies for the diagnosis and treatment of any mental health need. New Yorkers who rely on programs regulated, operated or funded by the exempt agencies – predominantly the poor and underserved – have no assurance that they will receive care from a licensed provider.

“If we were talking about a heart condition or a broken arm, it would be considered malpractice for an unqualified individual to make a diagnosis,” said Carmel L. Gold, president and CEO, Health Assets Management Inc. “It is critical that every person in need of mental health and child welfare services be diagnosed by a provider who is licensed to diagnose – not just those who can afford better care and not just those who seek care from exempt agencies and who are ‘lucky’ enough to see a licensed provider on their day of diagnosis.”

19 Years to Come into Compliance is Unacceptable and Discriminatory
In 2002, after at least 28 years of negotiation between the Legislature, stakeholder provider groups and trade associations, the practice of social work became one of the state’s licensed professions. In doing so, a minimum standard of education, experience and exam requirements was established to ensure that individuals providing mental health services, specifically the diagnosis and treatment of mental illness, were qualified to do so upon the effective date of September 1, 2004.

Just prior to the passage of such legislation, several state agencies noted they would need time beyond the two-year delayed effective date to move their workforces into compliance. They were granted a six-year exemption, until January of 2010, to do so and subsequently they were granted another three years, and then another three years. They have had 14 years to comply and yet they, along with the governor and the Assembly, are recommending another five years, bringing the grand total of time necessary to comply to 19 years. In the meantime, individuals accessing services through one of these many state or not-for-profit agencies may be seeing a qualified mental health practitioner or they may be seeing someone with no more than a high school education.

Exempt agencies currently include any program operated, funded or regulated by:

  • Office of Mental Health (OMH)
  • Office for People with Developmental Disabilities (OPWDD)
  • Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS)
  • Office for Children and Family Services (OCFS)
  • Office of the Aging (SOFA)
  • Department of Health (DOH)
  • Department of Corrections and Community Service (DOCCS)

Bunce stated, “We have found agency claims of excessive cost for implementation unfounded. Cost estimates submitted to the state were projected at $60M a few years ago and have now ballooned to $350M per year. There has been no justification for these estimates. We have worked with stakeholders and the Legislature to craft a comprehensive solution, which is reflected in the Senate one house budget bill and contend that enacting such language would allow for full implementation without service disruption or serious fiscal impact. Not-for-profit organizations and healthcare providers who provide similar services have come into compliance and it is time for our state government to stop kicking the can down the road.”

Mary McCarthy, NYS Social Welfare Deans Association secretary, cited the need for agencies to work together to implement a plan to hire or support appropriate educational preparation for employees performing license restricted tasks and ensure all New Yorkers that they are receiving care from qualified professionals, stating, “The NYS Association of Deans of Schools of Social work calls upon both houses of the Legislature to take the steps necessary to end the exemption from social work licensing now. We care deeply about ensuring that all consumers seeking mental health services are seen by a qualified professional social worker, not just those with private insurance. Let us work to ensure adequate preparation for the licensing exam for all graduates and grandparenting into the LMSW for current employees with a social work degree.”

Speaking on behalf of the National Association of Social Workers in New York City, Executive Director Dr. Robert Schachter stated, “Our leadership is unanimous that the time has come for exemptions from complying with the licensing law needs to end. We have examined the concerns of the agencies and we have worked to mitigate them. The proposal to end exemptions addresses this in a very reasonable way.”

Bunce said, “The ongoing practice of allowing state and local agencies to use unlicensed providers to diagnose and treat mental illnesses is, at its core, discriminatory and unfair to our most vulnerable populations – the mentally ill and poor. I represent a field whose primary mission is to enhance human well-being and help meet the basic human needs of all people, with particular attention to the needs and empowerment of people who are vulnerable, oppressed and living in poverty. As an ambassador of such profession, I am gravely concerned.”

Ross McCabe of the New York State Society for Clinical Social Work said, “Without proper education and supervised experience in preparation for clinical licensing, it is unlikely that, given the complexity of mental illness, a cost-effective diagnosis, treatment plan, and appropriate implementation can be delivered. It’s time for these state agencies to come into compliance.”

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