LEGISLATIVE ALERT
American Mental Health Counselors Association
801 N. Fairfax Street, Ste. 304
Alexandria, VA 22314
Contact Congress to Urge Support
for Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act
Dear Mental Health Counselor:
As this is being written, Congress is putting in place the building blocks for a major national health care reform debate. Indeed, the House and Senate may start moving health care reform legislation as soon as June. AMHCA has received information from a senior House staffer that the measure is likely to contain significant Medicare provisions. In short, the first session of the 111th Congress presents us with our best opportunity in almost a decade to achieve our long-sought goal of Medicare reimbursement for licensed mental health counselors (LMHCs). Legislation authorizing Medicare payment for LMHCs—The Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2009—has already been introduced in the House and Senate: H.R. 1693 and S. 671.
AMHCA needs your help to pass these vital bills as part of a larger health care reform package. To support you, we have developed the following materials:
A standard grassroots letter (see text below) that we are hoping you will send to your House member and both Senators from your home state. This correspondence provided is merely a template. Please feel free to modify it in any way you see fit to better reflect local conditions.
Talking points, should you decide to follow up the correspondence with personal contacts to your members of Congress. (See text below letter)
While we know that you have busy personal and professional lives, please act today! If you have any questions, please contact Al Guida, AMHCA's lobbyist, at 202-331-1120, or
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l. Or, contact AMHCA's new director of legislative affairs, Julie Clements, at 1-800-326-2642 or
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.
To borrow a phrase: Yes, We Can!
Thank you for your help.
Sincerely,
W. Mark Hamilton, PhD
Executive Director & CEO
American Mental Health Counselors Association
DRAFT LETTER TO CONGRESS(please copy this text or go to the link below to download the draft to place on your letterhead and personalize as you see fit)
May____, 2009
The Honorable_______
____House/Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510
RE: Please Co-Sponsor S. 671/H.R. 1693:
The Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2009.
Dear Senator/Representative:
I am writing to strongly urge you to co-sponsor S. 671/H.R. 1693, The Seniors Mental Health Access Improvement Act, which would establish Medicare coverage for licensed professional mental health counselors. With the exception of a recent federal law that finally equalized outpatient co-payments for mental health and medical/surgical services, the baseline Medicare mental health benefit has not been updated in almost 20 years. This inaction has consequences.
Improve Access in Rural Areas and among Underserved Minority Populations:
Approximately 77 million older adults live in 3,000 mental health professional shortage areas. Yet over 50% of rural counties have no practicing psychologists, psychiatrists or social workers. It is shocking to note that fully two thirds of rural residents with mental illness symptoms receive no treatment at all. As a direct result of this lack of access, older Americans with chronic medical conditions and major depression (nearly 2 million senior citizens nationwide) have significantly higher rates of disability than those with either condition alone.
Similarly, in a report entitled "Mental Health: Culture, Race and Ethnicity," the United State Surgeon General noted that "striking disparities in access, quality and availability of mental health services exist for racial and ethnic minority Americans." A critical result of this disparity is that minority communities bear a disproportionately high burden of disability from untreated or inadequately treated mental disorders.
Making Medicare a Better Purchaser of Mental Health Care:
Inpatient psychiatric hospital utilization by elderly Medicare recipients is extraordinarily high—particularly when compared to psychiatric hospitalization rates for patients covered by Medicaid, VA, TRICARE and private health insurance. To the extent that fully one third of these expensive inpatient placements are caused by clinical depression and addiction disorders, it is strikingly clear that additional community-based mental health services provided by licensed professional mental health counselors will reduce unneeded hospitalizations.
The bottom line is: lack of access to mental health care is increasing both the burden of disability on our senior citizens and minority communities as well as the financial burden on the Medicare program. Take action today. Co-sponsor H.R. 1693/ S. 671.
Sincerely,
TALKING POINTS
Lack of Access: Fully 50% of rural counties have no practicing psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers.
Burden of Disability: Senior citizens with chronic medical conditions and depression experience a significantly higher incidence of disability. Furthermore, according to the U.S. Surgeon General, disparity in access to mental health care is causing "racial and ethnic minority communities to bear a disproportionately high burden of disability from untreated" mental disorders.
Make Medicare a More Efficient Purchaser: Relative to patients who receive coverage from other federal programs or private health insurance, Medicare-eligible seniors are higher utilizers of inpatient psychiatric hospital services.
All of these problems have a single cause: senior citizens and minority Americans can’t obtain access to mental health care. Do something about this problem by establishing Medicare reimbursement for LPCs. Co-sponsor S. 671 and HR 1693 today!
To download a copy of the sample letter to place on your letterhead click on this link: AMHCA grassroots letter
Legislative Update
MMHCA 2009 Legislative Agenda
MMHCA has introduced legislation this year, that if successful will finally add the term diagnosis to our statutory definitions. HB 388 has been filed by Rep. Wayne Cooper and SB 295 has been filed by Sen. Delbert Scott. You can click on the links below to get the text of the bills as introduced and to track their progress.
Please contact your Representatives and Senators and ask them to support these important initiatives. To find your representatives and senators use the links to the House and Senate web sites below. Each page has a box where you can enter your zip code to find your legislators.
MO House of Representatives
MO Senate
HB 388
SB 295
Legislative Rationale and Legal Opinions
MMHCA has prepared a brief overview of the reasons why our legislation should be passed that you can download and use from the following link:
Rationale for HB 388 & SB 295
In addition MMHCA has contracted with John Landwehr to produce a legal opinion that lays out the case law, regulations and standards of care that make it clear that LPCs already have diagnosis as a part of their scope of practice. To download this opinion use this link;
LPCS USE OF DIAGNOSIS OPINION
MMHCA Sponsored 2008 Legislation Signed into Law; LPCs will be included in Dept. of Mental Health definition of 'mental health professionals'
At the very end of last year's legislative session two bills sponsored by MMHCA passed the State Legislature! HB 1791, sponsored by Rep. Wayne Cooper and SB 1177, sponsored by Sen. Frank Barnitz both have been truly agreed and finally passed. HB 1791 was signed into law by Gov. Blunt on 6-19-08. As you probably know these were identical companion bills which have the effect of inserting Licensed Professional Counselors into the Dept. of Mental Health, Div. of Comprehensive Psychiatric Services statute which defines "mental health professionals". This definition is key to DMH recognition of clinicians that it will recognize as being responsible for performing assessments leading to potential involuntary detention into the Department. When these bills are enacted in regulation they will allow the Community Mental Health Centers that serve as Administrative Agents for DMH to utilize LPCs to perform these critical assessments. The CMHC's across the state and DMH were strong supporters of our initiative and the bills sailed through unnopposed and were finally passed by each chamber. Feel free to send your individual thanks to Rep. Cooper and Sen. Barnitz along with the thanks we will send them from MMHCA as a whole.
This issue was brought to our attention by MMHCA members serving in CMHCs several years ago and we have finally realized one of our important goals in getting this legislation passed. While we are very happy to see this important recognition of the skills of LPCs finally take place we also take note that our primary goal of getting the term diagnosis included in our defined scope of practice remains a goal for next year's session. HB 1792 and SB 1107 were not passed and will be our sole focus in next years session. We did make significant progress by getting a strong sponsor in the Senate, Sen. Delbert Scott, who chairs the committee where our bills were heard. Sen. Scott is interested in working with us again in the next session so we start next year in our strongest position to date.
HB 1791
HB 1792
SB 1109
SB 1177
MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS COMMEMORATIVE STAMP PETITION
The American Mental Health Counselors Association has been working for a number of years to promote the creation of a commemorative postage stamp to help raise awareness of the need for mental health in everyone's lives. They have been getting signatures supporting this move on the petitions they have distributed over the years and now they are making that petition available over the web. Please feel free to go to the link below to sign the petition on-line. All voting adults are encouraged to sign on in support of this effort.
AMHCA Mental Health Awareness Petition - Click Here to link to their web site
U.S. Congress passes Veteran's Administration bill that includes mental health counselors!
A bill important to all LPCs passed both the U.S. House and Senate during the waning hours of the 109th Congress. The provision, included in S. 3421, the Veterans Benefits, Healthcare, and Information Act, opens up the VA health care system to mental health counselors, increasing access to care for veterans. S. 3421 now goes to President Bush to be signed into law.
The bill, which passed the House by voice vote and the Senate under unanimous consent, includes the AMHCA and ACA provision to add mental health counselors to the list of appointed positions within the Veterans Healthcare Administration (VHA). The provision would also delineate the qualifications mental health counselors would need to be appointed to a position in the VHA.
Currently, the VA cannot hire mental health counselors at the same pay grade as clinical social workers, nor can mental health counselors apply for supervisory positions open to clinical social workers and others. Partially as a result, the VA is the largest employer of social workers in the United States, and the VA employs very few mental health counselors on a full-time basis.
The AMHCA and ACA supported provision will allow mental health counselors to be eligible for better paying jobs with a greater potential for promotion at the VA. Currently, licensed mental health counselors do not have a federal Office of Personnel Management (OPM) General Schedule (GS) occupational classification, which is necessary for a counselor to be employed by the U.S. Government. With enactment of the provision, OPM will be required to create an occupational classification for mental health counselors.
Among S. 3421’s other provisions, is authorization of an additional $180 million for the provision of readjustment counseling and related mental health services provided at VA Vet Centers. The bill also adds funding to increase the number of clinicians, including mental health counselors, treating post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and authorizes an additional $2 million for VA community based outpatient clinics to support the provision of mental health services. Finally, the bill expands access to bereavement counseling for immediate family members as a service to be offered at Vet Centers when a servicemember dies on active duty.
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Representative Robert Wayne Cooper and Dan Holdinghaus are shown here accepting their AMHCA awards in Rep. Cooper's office at the State Capital. In 2005 at the AMHCA Annual Conference in Philadelphia Rep. Cooper was given the award for Public and Community Service and Dan was given the award for Professional Service and Leadership to a State Chapter. |