Alabama Psychology Licensing Bill News

We have retained Roger Bates of Hand Arendall as our legal counsel and consultant in pursuing passage of our licensing bill, SB250, in the 2013 legislature, which convened February 5. On March 6, our bill was voted unanimously out of the Senate health Committee. Sponsorship by Senator Cam Ward.

Summary of SB250:

• This bill would provide further for the membership of the Board of Examiners in Psychology.
• This bill would provide further for renewal and licensing fees of psychologists and psychological technicians.
• This bill would provide further for continuing education, licensing mobility, and temporary and emergency disaster licensing.
• This bill would require legal citizenship or legal presence in the country of licensees.
• This bill would increase the fines for unauthorized practice of psychology.
• This bill would provide civil remedies for enjoining violations of the licensing act.
• This bill would provide for a background check fee.
• This bill would provide further for complaints of licensees.
• This bill would also provide further for hearings of alleged violations.

For more information on background,please go to the Members only Forum by logging in to the website.

To follow the progress of this bill, log on through Members Log on and go to the Forum for Practice Act.

Medicaid Action Alert was effective!We are recognized as primary care mental health providers for many people in the state of Alabama. Psychiatrists are the specialists in this area.

The actual request made by the Medicaid Commissioner in December, 2009

The letter the association received from the Medicaid Agency in March, 2010, regarding the 20% cuts to psychologists for certain services. Discussions with the Medicaid agency were successful in preventing the cuts to licensed psychologists. We continue to meet with Medicaid staff to improve relationships and better serve the Alabama citizens on Medicaid.

The Alabama legislature will convene in early February. While the legislators are home, or even when they are in Montgomery, you can contact them to Introduce yourself, tell them what a psychologist is, and consider becoming a key contact, someone that your legislator can turn to for questions about issues relevant to mental health. It is time to get involved! It is a lot easier than you realize.

To find out who your senator and representative are in the Alabama Legislature, go to the Alabama legislature's site.

This is really cool!If you are a member of the American Psychological Association, and the APA Practice Organization, you can access legislation and regulations in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Congress through a unique service by going to the APA Practice Organization (APAPO) website pages at www.apapractice.org

The APAPO and State Net provide electronic access to state legislation and regulations on issues relevant to practitioners.

These reports provide a look at legislation and regulations in a variety of issue areas, including: licensure and scope of practice, reimbursement, hospital practice, mental health parity, prescriptive authority, healthcare reform, and more.