President’s Report
By Terry Zenner

On your behalf I attended the Clinical Social Work Federation meeting in Alexandria, VA, October 13-17. Within this newsletter you’ll find the essence of that meeting, as reported by the CSWF President, Abbie Grant. I made some additional editorial comments there. The theme was “membership”. I’ve been told I’ve previously been too “preachy” about this. Just know that both LACSW and CSWF alone remain with the singular focus of Clinical Social Work, and both benefit from “numbers” when talking to legislators.

The figures are in from the three workshops we sponsored in June and October. They are reflected in the financial report included herein. All made money. We obviously remain a non-profit organization in which such funds supplement our dues to afford our state lobbyist. As noted in the last newsletter, our focus for the 2005 legislative session is to work with other professionals on a “prompt pay” (from insurance) bill. This is being put together with input from the proposed beneficiaries. Certainly this is a bread and butter issue for all of us. It is a concrete “product” which LACSW is “selling” to prospective members. All of us who already joined are appreciative of that fact.

Our new Mentoring Committee has been doing its job. Interested students have been identified at Tulane and LSU and subsequent meetings from several such groups are planned soon. Good work done by Donna Lewis, Judy Haspel, Carol Miles, Anne Heard, Linda Nelson and Anita Evans!

Judy, Anita, and Susan Mittendorf are setting up a contest for students from the graduate schools, challenging them to write a short paper on" Why Do Social Workers Make Good Clinicians?” There will be a dollar award granted, totaling not more than $250.00. This and the mentoring project are being pursued as an effort to interest younger social workers to get involved in active leadership. An interesting statistic was quoted at the CSWF October meeting : 85% of the nation’s CSW’s are under age 30 or over age 50. That leaves a relatively small number in the 30-50 age range that should have more than beginning experience, and still have the energy to be effective in behalf of the profession.

At the board meeting we did a review of committee functions and who’s assigned to what. Everyone on the board is active on at least one committee. There are a few non-board members who have agreed to contribute their time on committees PRN. We appreciate their contribution and welcome any of the LACSW members who may wish to add their expertise to a committee. Check out what’s available at www.lacsw.org ; click on LACSW Board, and scroll down to committees. There you will see who is doing what for your practice.

The board meets on December 10, 2004. Each of you members has a standing invitation to “walk right in, sit right down, and baby, and let your hair hand down !!”

EXIT POINTS FOR OCTOBER 2004 BOARD MEETING
by Abbie Grant, CSWF Pesident
*Italic notes by Terry Zenner

1. Membership initiative passed. The Board voted that states increase their number of full members by 10% by October 2005. State Presidents or Representatives will present an action plan by January 2005. Margie and Richard will work with the designated state member to assist and provide guidance in any way possible. *We minimally need to go from 63 to 69 members.

2. The Board voted to increase dues by $6.00 per full member in the fiscal year 2005-2006. This amount is added to a dues increase of $4.00 previously scheduled to take place next year bringing the total dues per Full Member to $43.00 for fiscal year 2005-2006. *LACSW is absorbing this. There will be no new state dues increase.

3. The Board voted to follow the recommendation of the Finance Committee in setting dues for associate, student and emeritus members. The dues structure is as follows: $5.00 for each Student and Emeritus Member and $10.00 for each Associate Member starting in the fiscal year 2005-2006. Beginning in fiscal year 2006-2007 the Associate Member fee will be $15.00 per member. The dues for Student and Emeritus Members will remain unchanged. *Again, LACSW will absorb this. NO higher dues to LACSW.

4. The Board supported Laura Groshong and the continued development of national licensing standards for clinical social work. *See related “Don’t Worry…”

5. The Board supported amending the Bylaws to change the name of MANCO to Executive Committee and the PR/marketing committee to Communications Committee.

6. Through a discussion led by Professional Standards and Ethics Committee Chair, Keith Myers, the Board reached a consensus to allow financial support of education presentations and other activities by pharmaceutical companies so long as the Board’s sensitivities are considered, common sense is applied, and the specific proposals undergo a review by the appropriate Federation committees.

7. The Communications committee will work on establishing form letters that can be sent to the media or organizations when clinical social work is misrepresented.

8. The Board adopted two policies for the presentation of educational programs in the states. The first policy relates to a presentation completely developed, sponsored and financed, by the Federation with the commitment that such a program will not conflict with planned programs or trainings by the state. The second policy is a joint initiative between the Federation and a state or another entity. Upon agreement of the subject, the Federation will provide the speaker, including honorarium, travel and boarding, as well as necessary materials for which the state will pay an initial agreed upon base rate. The Federation will receive a percentage of the profit of the conference calculated against the base rate.

9. The Membership Committee and the Executive Committee will explore the possibility of a training for membership chairs or their representatives either regionally or one training in a central location.

10. Dr. Golnar Simpson, DSW made a presentation to the Board on “Trauma Relational Dynamics in the Brain: A Neuroscience Perspective in Clinical Social Work Practice.” Continuing education credits were offered.

11. The Board authorized the Executive committee to pursue redefining the relationship of the Federation with NMCOP. *(National Membership Committee on Psychoanalysis)

12. Thirteen states volunteered to donate the proceeds of one educational program to the Federation during this fiscal year.

DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY!
By Terry Zenner

As noted in the nearby “Exit Points” by the President of CSWF, the latter is in the early stages of developing national licensing standards. They would be just that, a “standard” goal, to be passed by Individual states, not a mandate. This is a long term project, having the dual outcome of greater excellence across the country, and easier reciprocity for SW’s coming in and out of various states to practice. Laury Grochong is the CSWF Government Affairs Chair who got this organized. She practices half-time in a private practice and half-time as a lobbyist in Washington state. She has done an individual assessment of each of the 50 states’ licensing laws. The GOOD NEWS is depicted below. She told me that in her assessment Louisiana has the best law in the country!

Analysis of Louisiana Licensure Law
By Laura Groshong October, 2002

Best wishes to resigning board member,

Susan Mittendorf,

Make a donation today

to the:

LACSW PAC

c/o Justin Schleis

5425 Brittany Drive, Ste. A

Treasurer’s Report

Upcoming Workshops

Schedule of the LACSW Board Meetings:

Fridays, 10:00A.M.- ~ 2:00P.M.

Synergy Hospital, Baton Rouge

December 10, 2004

February 4, 2005

April 1, 2005

June 17, 2005

August 11, 2005

Any member is welcome to attend. The meetings always expand knowledge of what’s happening in many domains of social work. It’s a good way to taste whether you might want to commit to being a board member.

If interested, call for directions: 337-989-9350 (Terry Zenner)

I HAVE A DREAM—(The Demise of Managed Care)
by Terry Zenner

LACSW recently received an inquiry : could we do anything about Managed Health Network paying LCSW’s only $40 per session? The discussion at our board meeting revealed that individual members had tried for years to push them for higher pay to no avail; nor can we collectively bargain or boycott them. Individually, of course, we can take a stand. I told them many ears ago (I caught that typo but thought it was apropos anyway) that I could not make a living at their rates. This move far surpassed anything Xanax might have done for my MCO stress. Nevertheless, our Managed Care Chairperson, Leesa Sitter, agreed to pose to MHN a request for reasonable rates. We will inform you in capital letters if they respond positively.

Other related topics included a discussion that APS authorizes only four sessions at a time, but tends to do so readily. UBH is covering state employees, while CEP is “providing” managed care for foster care services. My wife and I often find humor in recalling my grandmother’s reaction to witnessing a dance at a Catholic service. (“When we were teenagers they said it was a sin to dance. Now they’re doing it on the altar!”) So, likewise of “managed foster care”, it’s come to this!!

Here’s a helpful hint from Larry Gouch who has had success in dealing with United Behavioral Health by contacting Eric Singleton at 225-237-2038. He also said it was helpful to talk to Robert Levigne with APS Health Care at 800-305-3720 ext 3740.

Now, of course, another option in dealing with managed care is to address a letter to the company, with a “cc” to the Louisiana Insurance Commissioner, P.O. Box 94214, Baton Rouge, LA 70804-9214. This tends to stifle their inclination to place your letter in “file 13”. A form to file a complaint to the Insurance Commissioner can be found at www.lacsw.org , “Members”, “Tips/Managed Care.”

Here’s more continuing ideas on alternatives to life under managed care: Specialize in—

26. Veteran’s Issues

27. Families of those serving overseas

28. Step-families

29. Adoption studies

30. Humor as therapeutic

ANOTHER UPDATE FROM CSWF

This is an excerpt from a CSWF Government Relations Committee Report, 10-14-04, by Laura Groshong

HIPPA Lawsuit

A lawsuit has been filed which is attempting to reinstate the “informed consent” portion of HIPAA Standards which was removed from the final HIPAA Rule by Sec. Tommy Thompson in August of 2002. It would have put disclosure of any health care information in the hands of the patient, instead of making patients request information not be disclosed (which it now may be for 7 different reasons). The lawsuit is primarily sponsored by the American Psychoanalytic Association and the National Coalition of Mental Health Professionals and Consumers. The suit was summarily dismissed in District Court (Philadelphia) and will be heard in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals near the end of the year.

In short, there are many new causes of concern for the future of mental health treatment and we need to find ways on the state and national levels to be part of the way mental health treatment is defined and made available. Of course we are still working on the issues we have supported the past three years — mental health parity; re-inclusion of CSWs as independent providers in Skilled Nursing Facilities (SNFs); and changing the HIPPA rules to require informed consent for each disclosure of health care information. So far, we are fortunate that no national issues have emerged which require direct sustained lobbying on our behalf to protect the interests of clinical social workers, as we no longer have access to a national lobbyist. Hopefully, we will be able to address this gap in CSWF’s Governmental Affairs coverage in the future.

We Win Some, We Lose Some

A Patient suing to discover the identities of witnesses in a New York medical center accident received an appellate court ruling in March denying access to those identities based on HIPPA. The court held that such disclosure would “breach the physician-patient privilege.” (Dunn v. Sound Shore Medical Center, NY)

A Private advocacy group has filed suit in San Diego alleging Albertson’s Supermarkets violated their pharmacy patients privacy rights by sending them letters which may have been written by drug companies urging them to try a different medication. It is alleged Albertson’s received $4.50 for each letter and $15.00 for each telephone call. A number of drug companies are named as “co-conspirators” in the suit. (The Privacy Clearing House, San Diego, CA)

QUIZ:

What genders are these?

Answers Below.

ZIPLOCK BAGS - Male, because they hold everything in, but you can see right through them.

TIRE - Male, because it goes bald and it’s often over inflated.

SPONGES - Female, because they’re soft and squeezable and retain water.

WEB PAGES - Female, because they’re always getting hit on.

SUBWAY - Male, because it uses the same old lines to pick people up.

COPIER - Female, because once turned off, it takes a while to warm up. It’s an effective reproductive device if the right buttons are pushed, but can wreak havoc it the wrong buttons are pushed.

AIR BALLOON - Male, because to get it to go anywhere you have to light a fire under it and, of course, it’s full of hot air.

HOURGLASS - Female, because over time, the weight shifts to the bottom.

HAMMER - Male, because it hasn’t evolved much over the last 5,000 years, but it’s handy to have around.

REMOTE CONTROL - Female...Ha! You thought it’d be male, but consider it gives a man pleasure, he’d be lost without it, and while he doesn’t always know the right buttons to push, he keeps trying.

LACSW
P.O. Box 14153
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
Phone: 225-761-1668
Fax: 337-989-8458
Email: LACSW2@hotmail.com

Our Corporate Sponsor, Synergy, Offers Regional Services

Synergy Healthcare Group offers Inpatinet Psychiatric Services in Baton Rouge and Lutcher, as well as Community Mental Health Centers in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Slidell.

Transitional Living services are offered in Baton Rouge and new Orleans, and Home Healthcare Services are located in Baton Rouge, Hammond, Alexandria, Lafayette, and Kenner.

Referral Lines:

Transitional Living:

Synergy Home Health:

Moving? Missed an Issue?

Please contact us at:

LACSW P.O. Box 14153 Baton Rouge, LA 70808
or
lacsw2@hotmail.com

To Contact Your Licensing Board:

Send $5.00 to the board for a copy of “The Rules, Standards, and Procedures of the Louisiana Social Work Practice Act– amended Oct.24, 2003.

Louisiana State Board of Social Work Examiners 18550 Highland Road—Suite B Baton Rouge, LA 70809 Phone: (225) 756-3470 or 800-521-1941 (LA only) email: socialwork@labswe.org Website: http://www.labswe.org

Contact Information:

LACSW Officers:

President– Terry Zenner 337-989-9350

President Elect— Judith Haspel 504-891-5807

Secretary— Leesa Sitter 318-226-8753

Treasurer— Charlene Spears 337-237-9150

Regional Board—Baton Rouge

Anita Evans, Deborah Fernandez, Judy Holland, Maureen Powell, Justin Schleis, Larry Gooch

Covington— Carol Miles

Lafayette - Connie Konikoff

New Orleans– Anne Heard, Mimi Jalenak, Donna Lewis, George Morlier, Laura Myers, Marjorie Roniger

Shreveport— Beth Porter, Peggy Salley

Slidell— Maria Klette-Ketchum