BTW--- I WON!

Probably not many have read the two previous blogs.  However, it occurs to me, belatedly?, that I should at least note that -----    I WON the election for membership to the Board of AAMFT-CA. ( 3 years beginning in January.)  As time permits, I will add to this post-- or add new ones for further thoughts/actions in re: ....

For now, suffice to express  my gratitude and  my excitement for the opportunity to  further  engage/educate/impact the process of a more people-sized mental health, medical and social reality.  NUF-SAID (stanlee)

AAMFT-CA BOARD ELECTIONS

 I am on the ballot for the AAMFT-CA  Board of Directors-- with my main "platform plank" as  getting our organizations to be  proactive re: reimbursement and administrative issues with insurance companies, Affordable Care act, and more responsive to member concerns, etc

The ballot was e-blasted on 8/27.  And voting closes 9/20.  (If you have any difficulty with voting, please contact Gita Seshadri, Ph.D, Elections Council Chair, at gseshadri01@yahoo.com.)
  

DID YOU KNOW  that  the general thrust of the corporatization of health care has, for example,  led the AAMFT to passively accept and advise those of us who are  insurance plan providers  to  “expect that the plans…will ask (us) to accept 2014 FEE RATES BELOW THOSE” we presently receive. (AAMFT Family Therap-eNews, 5/31/13)

I do NOT accept this.  It is one, very big, example of how we need to be more proactive in protecting our profession and expanding—not reducing-- its efficacy.  I believe I bring the experience in health care advocacy and organizing to help AAMFT-CA be an active, effective participant in this on-going process.

  

Further, as mundane as it may sound—the current AAMFT-CA  Board (it seems ) is all located in Southern California.  I am in the S. F./East Bay area--perhaps I can help bring some bioregional balance.   

Please VOTE FOR ME  and TELL YOUR AAMFT FRIENDS and COLLEAGUES  (Two vacancies but voting for only one increases chances of winning)

Happy to address any questions and to hear your comments and ideas.  Any help you can render-- of course-- greatly appreciated   Stephen@stephenvernonmft.com

THANK YOU VERY MUCH  (and my apologies if you have received multiple announcements)

AAMFT-CA BOARD (For those who want to know more about me and my "platform.")

The ever increasing influence/control of our profession by the mostly for-profit insurance industry will only be enhanced by the developments of the Affordable Care Act (ACA- Obama Care.)  A high percentage of our fellow professionals  now rely a great deal on either public or non-profit  employment or insurance contracting and reimbursement—as do our clients.  The ACA will be providing many more people with at least some degree of mental health coverage.  The pool of private pay clients is likely to be reduced and the demand for services increased.  At the same time, the mostly unrestrained for-profit insurance bureaucracy will make therapeutic services more difficult to provide and burdened with over administration.  AAMFT must enhance alliances with other state and national organizations to act as an effective voice for clinicians, clients/consumers and society to enhance services and reduce bureaucratic restrictions.

Related to this is developing and having an understanding and an impact on what the therapeutic landscape  will look like in the near, mid and long range future.  Will we all have to work for large groups --private, public or non-profit-- in order to be able to meet the systems’ policy and funding structures ?  What will be the fate of the individual, mostly out-of-pocket private practice ? We need to prepare ourselves to have influence on the future and to participate in it.

As a more specific example--With funding streams attached to more Integrated/Accountable  Care Systems will even small group practices be able to provide the administrative services needed for documentation,  Global Budgeting, Evidenced Based Best Practice, demonstrated Outcomes, etc.  Will we, like most physicians, have to develop administrative entities to negotiate and interact with various funding and regulatory organizations?   Or, alternatively, what can we do to promote Practice Based Best Evidence and the ability of the individual practitioner to survive in the environment and develop therapeutic structures—not bureaucratic ones?

Universal Health Care:

It’s clear that the U.S. has the least efficient and, in many measurements, among the least effective health system in  the “developed” world (and beyond.)  What is not clear is exactly the structure of Mental Health systems in other countries.   Taking the above concerns into account, we must learn from and about them and promote and adapt useful ideas and structures into our policy proposals and goals.  (A project I have already initiated.)

Parity:

It is well known that the Wellstone-Domenici Parity Act (2008) calls for parity with medical services for mental health  and substance abuse services.  What is less understood is that it also calls for reimbursement parity.  This means it is incumbent on the field’s leadership to “examine fee structures to be sure that insurers are reimbursing at rates comparable to medical and surgical benefits”  (National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare--  2010)