Dear colleagues,

I am writing my last blog post as President. This weekend at our Board meeting I officially handed the gavel over to Chuck Hollister who is taking the reigns as President.  I've worked closely with Chuck in his role as President-elect and I know that he will continue the work we have done this past year.  He will be a great successor. 

In this past year we have accomplished many goals including completely redesigning our website to make it more up-to-date, easily accessible, with greater functionality; defending our scope of practice from LPCs who sought to gain the right to make psychiatric diagnoses with no formal training to do so; advancing our legislative agenda by working closely on the bill that would mandate insurance coverage for eating disorders; meeting with members of Mo Health Net to advocate for the reimbursement of Health and Behavior Codes under Medicaid; and sending representatives (including myself) to the annual APA State Leadership Conference in Washington DC.  We also held a very successful Conference in St. Louis that was well attended by our membership with great presenters and a symposium with a member of the state House of Representatives (Rep. Todd Richardson). 

These are just some of the goals we have accomplished this past year and they couldn't have been achieved without the hard work and dedication of our Board members and Committee Chairpersons all of whom volunteer their time and skills for the greater good of psychology.  I am also very grateful to each and every one of our members, without whom our organization would cease to exist. 

In the coming year we will build upon these goals and address new ones, including re-examining our Committee structure to allow for more active committees that include more members involvement.  In the past year I have tried to increase communication with members via the listserv and blog so that you can all see the many MOPA activities that happen "behind the scenes" as a means of demonstrating the value of your dues and how hard MOPA fights to protect and advance our scope of practice in the state. I hope that you will continue to support MOPA by renewing your yearly membership with us so that we can support you in our advocacy efforts.

Thank you all for a wonderful year. 

Signed your new "Immediate Past-president",

Rich Martielli    

 
 
Some updates for April
H&B CODES

  • I've spoke with Kevin C. Smith, Ph.D. at the University of Missouri Kansas City and Children's Mercy Hospitals and Clinics - Kansas City regarding H&B codes as he has experience in trying to get reimbursed for these codes.
  • I plan on talking to Stephen R. Gillaspy, Ph.D. from the Department of Pediatrics, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center. Oklahoma has been successful in obtaining reimbursement through Medicaid for H&B codes. He co-authored an article on the subject that can be found here.
  • I have a conference call scheduled with APAPO's Legal and Regulatory Affairs office to discuss strategy for getting these codes reimbursed by MO Health Net. 
  • Here is a map with some of the states that already are able to get reimbursement for these codes through Medicaid.

EATING DISORDER BILL
  • I met with Annie Seal from the Missouri Eating Disorders Association to discuss strategies for advancing HB1509 through the House. 
  • Emailed the STATEPSYCH listserv (which includes all the Presidents of SPTAs) to determine how much insurance carriers spent on coverage for eating disorders in states where similar legislation already exists. In Missouri we have a similar mechanism for monitoring how much insurers spend on autism coverage. A report is filed yearly through the Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration.  
  • Annie Seal and our lobbyist Lisa Christie are beginning to work towards amending the bill to specifically include psychologists as first-line provders of empirically supported treatments for Eating Disorders.

Working proudly on your behalf,
Richard P. Martielli, Ph.D., ABPP
President Missouri Psychological Association 
 
 
Watch the video below of MOPA in action at the recent State Leadership Conference! 
 
 
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Congratulations to Brick Johnstone, Ph.D., new MOPA representative on APA's Council of Representatives (COR). 


The APA sent ballots to all Missouri Psychological Association members who are members of APA on November 18.  The election closed January 3.  The ballots have been counted and the Election Committee has certified the election.  On behalf of Garnett Coad & the APA Election Committee we are pleased to announce that Brick Johnstone, Ph.D., has been elected. as MOPA's Representative to the COR. Dr. Johnstone’s term will begin immediately.  Dr. Johnstone is preceeded by Ken Bohm, Ph.D., who served in the role of COR Representative for the previous 6 years.  We are thankful for the outstanding work that Dr. Bohm has done for MOPA and for all the psychologists in Missouri. Dr. Bohm will continue to consult with MOPA Board members as needed