President’s Report
By Terry Zenner

          Your board met in Baton Rouge on February 11th.  Prior minutes and the Treasurer’s report were approved. (See the latter elsewhere in the newsletter.)

     Members Judy Haspel and Anne Heard met with their state senators for lunch  and reported a cordial reception.  Our lobbyist encourages all of you to do the same, having no agenda other than listening to the politicians and getting to know them.  That way, later during the session when we do have an agenda, they will not view us as “takers”, but recall us as “givers”.  Well done Judy and Anne!

     Legislative Chair, Debbie Fernandez, reports that we will support the school social workers’ bill. We will also monitor and promote the “prompt pay” legislation, though with a more moderate expectation of any major changes, as noted in the last newsletter.

     The Education Committee has committed to more advanced planning and “themes” for a given year’s workshops, 2005’s being marriage.  Thus, Darryl Ducote is presenting on this topic in Shreveport on March 11th and in New Orleans on June 17th.  Leesa Sitter, our Secretary, has put in extra personal time and effort to promote the Shreveport seminar and regional membership enrollment.  Thanks!

     Lou Irwin will present a Master’s class on marriage at Judy Haspel’s house on October 21st.  Registration fees for the latter are yet to be determined, but will be reduced for members.  Stay tuned to later newsletters.

     The BIG NEWS from the Membership Committee is the response by many of you to our bidding you to join.  Whereas last October we had 63 members, today we are at 82 and growing. Thanks to all of you, and especially Maria Klette-Ketchum and Larry Gooch, Membership Co-Chairs.  The significance of this is its positive effect on budgetary concerns, and the impact of our representing more people as an organization in relating to legislators.

     See elsewhere for a Managed Care Update. Additional news: a letter was mailed to the LA Attorney General, asking for an “opinion” regarding out of state insurance companies and self-insured companies claiming they are exempt form Louisiana law.  When we receive a reply we will inform you. 

     Board Member Marjorie Roniger has joined the Managed Care Committee.  Her experience and interest will serve us all well.

     The Mentoring Committee is proving successful.  There are mentors from LACSW now meeting regularly with students or new GSW’s in Baton Rouge, Lafayette, and New Orleans.  Several participants have joined LACSW at our student rate.  These gatherings have been mutually beneficial; the “elders” get a sense of what is being taught in grad schools, while the rookies get a taste of a mature practice.  I encourage anyone interested in volunteering for such an education to call Donna Lewis, Chairperson, at (504) 837-3241.

     The Nominations Committee is in search of new board members from all regions of the state.  While it takes a commitment of about 6 Fridays a year, it is a broadening experience that is certain to enhance your professional and political knowledge base. The meetings are casual, but always informative.  If you are a member of LACSW you qualify.  If interested contact Judy Haspel at (504) 891-5807.  We can use both young energy and mature wisdom. If you have both, you’re a shoe-in!

   A  BIRD—

    Benin, a small nation in Africa,

    doesn’t have a golf course, but  that didn’t deter Mathieu Boya.  He would routinely practice driving balls in a field adjacent to the Benin Air Base—until one day in 1987 when his ball struck a gull, which then fell into the open cockpit of a jet taxiing the runway, which caused the pilot to lose control, which caused the plane to barrel through the other four Mirage fighter jets sitting on the tarmac…which wiped out the Entire Benin Air Force.

 CSWF-Sponsored Insurance Plan

Taking care of others’ needs can be rewarding, but it leaves you with little time to attend to your own.  Bertholon-Rowland can help you—we offer affordable yet comprehensive plans for your personal and professional protection through the CSWF-Sponsored Insurance Program.

      Professional Liability Insurance

BR’s Professional Liability Insurance for Clinical Social Workers offers versatile coverage.  You can choose individual or group “occurrence-based” coverage, with aggregated coverage limits ranging from $1 million to $4 million. Coverage is portable, and can also cover supplemental liability such as personal injury and property damage claims.  The plan is underwritten by Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company, rated “A+” by A.M. Best.

      Term Life Insurance

You can apply for up to $300,000 of coverage under this plan.  Your employees, spouses and dependent children are also eligible to apply for protection.  Benefits include special features such as an Accelerated Death Benefit that allows terminally ill insureds to receive a portion of the death benefit while still living.  The plan is also underwritten by Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Co. 

Contact 800-727-7770. ext. 8593 or solutions@brcorp.com or visit www.brcorp.com/cswf.

COMPUTER SAFETY ALERT

     A situation was reported to LACSW in which a social worker’s computer was virus infected with the potential to disseminate confidential information across the internet despite a high quality firewall and anti-virus system.  A representative of Symantec’s Norton Anti-Virus said that for better protection, when renewing your subscription, be sure to purchase the latest version. Avoid simply renewing the old subscription which may not cover all the ports of entry for viruses.  Also, new unidentified viruses can still break through even the best firewall, e.g., the Pentagon’s.. Another “guru” said that a “fire-line” ($1500 !), different from a “fire-wall”, is the best protection (e.g., www.secyber.net ). Consider storing client information off of any computer hard drive connected to the internet to be safe.  Also, be sure to check the computer screen with each use to ensure that the anti-virus system is on-line and has not been de-activated.

I Have a Dream….The Demise of Managed Care
       By Terry Zenner 

     Will Rogers used to entertain stage audiences by simply bringing the current day’s newspapers, and commenting on the absurdity of politicians antics.  Similarly, just what happens in my office is a never ending supply of managed care tomfoolery.   Here’s a recent quote from an MCO’s 1-800 benefit “clarification” conversation.  “This insured has a $3,000.00 mental health per year deductible and a limit of 25 visits per  year.  Well, do the math.  Only if a CSW was charging $120.00 per session would 25 visits accumulate to $3000.00.  And then, whoops, they’ve exceeded their limit of sessions.  Granted, were this November instead of February and an inpatient hospitalization had been claimed, perhaps there’d be some benefits to squeeze out; that is, after the still remaining co-pay.  But essentially this insurance company could have saved some ink and trees by simply stating, “We like to say you have mental  health coverage, but you’ve got to really earn it!”    

     In the tradition of this column I offer more practice ideas outside of DSM diagnoses.

Specialize in: 

36.  Anger classes for adolescents    39.  Artists’ or another profession’s issues

37.  Journaling                                         40.  Critical Incident Stress Management

38.  Divorce recovery    

LOUISIANA STATE BOARD OF SOCIAL WORK EXAMINERS

18550 Highland Road, Suite B,

Baton Rouge, LA  70809

225-756-3470 or 800-521-1941 (Louisiana Only) 

LABSWE Dates for 2005 Board Meetings

All meetings are held at the Baton Rouge Board Office—

Call the Board Office for times of the meetings

      February 18, 2005 (Hilton New Orleans Airport) 

March 18, 2005

 April 22, 2005 

June 3, 2005

July 8, 2005

August 19, 2005

 September 23, 2005

October 28, 2005

December 2, 2005

REVENGE OF THE SPAM HATERS

Background:  In November of 2002, Detroit Free Press columnist Mike Welland wrote a story about a man named Alan Ralsky.  Ralsky had become a multimillionaire through marketing spam on the Internet.  How much spam?  His company sent up to 250 million e-mails a day.  The story told readers about Ralsky’s new 8,000square-foot, $740,000 home.  The spammer bragged that one entire wing of the house was paid for by a single weight-loss email.

Revenge Gone Wild!  A group of spam haters decided to give Ralsky a dose of his own medicine.  The posted his home address on hundreds of websites, and Ralsky started getting tons—literally—of junk mail.  Then they posted his e-mail address and his phone number, and the mega-junk mailer got inundated with the very thing he had made his million from—spam.  And, no surprise:  He was annoyed!  Ralsky later complained, “They’ve signed me up for every advertising campaign and mailing list there is.  These people are out of their minds!  They’re harassing me!”

Balance Sheet 2/10/05

Account                                     Balance Sheet as of 2/10/2005

Wishing a Speedy Recovery

To our Education Chairperson, soon to be CSWF Representative, and past president, George “Skip” Morlier.  He was involved in a bicycle accident in early February and broke several bones.  By publication time he’ll be back at work, but I’m sure still in some pain.  We all owe him a debt of gratitude for service to LACSW and wish him well.

Make a donation today

to the:

 LACSW PAC

c/o Justin Schleis

5425 Brittany Drive, Ste. A

Baton Rouge, LA  70808-9170

Schedule of the LACSW Board Meetings: 

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

Behavioral Hospital of Baton Rouge  

       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)

Upcoming Workshops

YOUR NAME ON THIS BILLBOARD

             I’d like to see LACSW doing….

             I’d like to know _________________ about LACSW.

             Enclosed is my letter to the editor….

             Enclosed is an article of interest to all CSW’s.

             Getting to know members….

                                    …. submit a half-page biography (free PR with your contact info.)

    Here’s the names and wonderful rates of some easy to work with managed care

    groups….(LACSW really wants to know.)

Address any of the above or variants to ….

                                                         LACSW

                                                         P.O. Box 14153  

                                                         Baton Rouge, LA 70808

back to TOP

 THE NATURE OF THE HMO/MCO BEAST

Supreme Court Rejects HMOs Appeal in MD Suit

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court refused on January 10, 2005 to review the class-action status for a lawsuit on behalf of more than 600,000 doctors claiming six managed-care companies violated federal racketeering law by regularly underpaying them for medical services. Without comment, the justices rejected an appeal by the HMOs, and let stand a ruling by a U.S. appeals court that allowed the class-action lawsuit to proceed to trial before a federal judge in Miami.

The lawsuit claimed the defendants conspired with each other to program their computer systems to systematically underpay physicians for their services. The lawsuit covered claims submitted by doctors between 1990 and 2002.

The defendants are Health Net Inc.; Humana Inc.; PacifiCare Health Systems Inc.; a unit of Prudential Financial Inc.; United Health Group Inc.; and WellPoint Health Networks Inc.

The HMOs argued to the Supreme Court that the Atlanta-based appeals court used the wrong standard in upholding a judge’s decision to give the lawsuit class-action certification.

They claimed the appeals court should have conducted a more rigorous analysis by carefully reviewing the evidence rather than just accepting the plaintiff’s allegations as true.

The HMOs said the standard used by the appeals court “invites frivolous class actions and creates extraordinary settlement pressures in cases that should not be certified.”

Two managed care companies, Aetna Inc. and Cigna Corp., already have settled with the plaintiffs. Attorneys for the plaintiffs urged the Supreme Court to reject the appeal by the HMOs.

Real Life Bumper Stickers

If we are what we eat, I’m

      fast, cheap, and easy.

If you’re psychic, Think honk”.

The weather is here—

       wish you were beautiful.

Life Expectancy for Men and Women

                 Women in the U.S.:                     Men in the U.S.:

                   1900,  48.7 years                         1900,  46.6 years

                   2000,  76.1 years                         2000,  72.7 years

Managed Care Update

     As reported previously, contacts were made to MHNet requesting a review of their low fee scale, and to APS to request an increase in sessions authorized. There has been no response.  Feedback was received from UBH to our request for an increased number of  authorized sessions, from 5 back to 10 as they did in the past.  They are reviewing the different products offered and sessions authorized. 

     Humana Medicare Choice fees for 90806 are under $50.  There are reports that some self-insured plans with no formal contract with providers are using “managed care” language of no balance billing on EOB’s.   

Submitted by,

Leesa L. Sitter
Chairperson, M.C. Committee

ICD-9

Some of you may have been asked by insurance companies to use the ICD-9 diagnostic codes instead of the DSM’s.  These codes are available at the following website.  Note Mental Disorders about 5 lines down from the top of the page.

http://www.icd9coding1.com/flashcodehome.jsp

Thanks to Mimi Jalenak for this information.

The Secret is Out

Special appreciation goes to my secretary, Lori Faris, who has taken the time to learn Desktop Publisher.  Her abilities account for the typing and formatting of this newsletter. 

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

Reminder: Please go to our website, www.lacsw.org to update your data. This is free publicity for your practice.

Our Special Thanks to Behavioral Hospital of Baton Rouge for hosting LACSW's meetings.

Behavioral Hospital of Baton Rouge
440 North Blvd.
Baton Rouge, LA 70806

Inpatient Admissions: 225-343-1994 or 800-215-0108

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