California Licensure Bill signed by Gov.

California is Final State to License Mental Health Counselors

Alexandria , VA – October 12, 2009 – With today’s signing of California Senate Bill 788 by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, mental health counselors are now licensed as master’s degreed mental health professionals in all 50 states and the District of Columbia .

"Achieving licensure in every state is a tremendous victory, both for mental health counselors and for those seeking their services," said AMHCA president Linda Barclay, PhD, LPCC/S, LICDC, NCC.

AMHCA recognizes the efforts of the California Coalition for Counseling Licensure (CCCL), which worked actively for licensure of mental health counselors, to be known in California as licensed professional clinical counselors (LPCCs). AMHCA assisted the CCCL in its lobbying efforts, producing letters in support of SB 788 to Assembly and Senate Business and Professions Committee chairs and members.

"AMHCA deeply appreciates the hard work of CCCL in this historic achievement," said Mark Hamilton, PhD, AMHCA executive director and CEO.

Governor Schwarzenegger will appoint two LPCCs to the Board of Behavioral Sciences, which is already comprised of two licensed clinical social workers, a licensed educational psychologist, and two licensed marriage and family therapists. SB 788 defines "professional clinical counseling" as being focused exclusively on the application of counseling interventions and psychotherapeutic techniques for the purposes of improving mental health. Under SB 788, the LPCC profession does not include the assessment or treatment of couples or families unless the LPCC has completed additional training and education beyond the minimum education and training required for LPCC licensure.

The law will go into effect on January 1, 2010. At that point, the Board of Behavioral Sciences will have the responsibility for developing the rules and regulations to implement the bill and it will prepare to accept LPCC applications.

Applications for grandparenting and reciprocity will be available on January 1, 2011, through the Board of Behavioral Sciences. Applications for regular licensure will be available on January 1, 2012, for those not eligible for grandparenting or reciprocity. Click here to learn about requirements.

BCBS AND MAGELLAN UPDATE

The following is a copy of an email from Stephanie Knispel, the president of Medicius a billing service.

BCBS AND MAGELLAN

We have acquired more detailed information regarding the recent letter from BCBS and the change that will take place with Magellan January, 1, 2010.

The change is not going to effect all BCBS PPO policies. Patients whose policies currently carve out to Magellan for inpatient psychiatric visits will also carve out to Magellan for outpatient mental health visits when this change takes place. BCBS PPO policies that do not require an authorization from Magellan for inpatient will stay the same in 2010 and will not carve out to Magellan.

According to the information that we received the reimbursement rate will remain at the BCBS level.

At this time there is no requirement to be paneled with Magellan to receive reimbursement on these policies, but with all of the changes that are taking place we suggest that you become in-network with Magellan if you are currently out of network so that no additional issues in reimbursement will arise.

For those of you that are current clients of Medicus we will be adding inpatient benefit levels to the verifications that are sent to you. This is going to let us know which policies require a Magellan authorization for inpatient so that we are fully prepared to get outpatient authorization for the policies in which it is required at the first of the year.

This is all preliminary information and may or may not change from now until January, but we will update you on any new developments as they are received.

Please feel free to forward this to any provider that is concerned about the change. We are available to take any calls from providers that have questions regardless if they are current clients. We hope this gave a bit more clarity to the change taking place. Have a wonderful day.

Sincerely,

Stephanie M. Knispel
President
sknispel@medicusoutsourcing.com
MEDICUS Consulting & Outsourcing, Inc.
15436 Lamon Ave
Oak Forest, IL 60452
Phone:(708) 535-7347
Fax: (708) 535-7396
Cell: (708) 704-0172
http://medicusoutsourcing.

BCBS Plans to be managed by Magellan

Many of you may have received the letter from BCBS

This is what we know.

Any plan that had Magellan manage inpatient care will now manage outpatient care as well. If you are BC provider, you do not need to be a Magellan provider to continue to see the client, and we will be reimbursed at the BC rate.
There will be plans that will remain PPO without Magellan managing the care. Those will remain the same. They said was that we should call in January to check with each person's plan to see if it is a plan that remains classic PPO or if something has changed with that plan to now be managed by Magellan.

We suspect this is a response to the new federal parity law that goes into effect Jan 2010 and that this will have some impact for them. We are waiting to hear from ACA if they know any more in that regards.

Private Practice Workshop Oak Brook

Norm Dasenbrook presenting to 42 people on how to Start, Maintain and Expand a Professional Private Practice. Oak Brook Renaissance. Bob Walsh co presented this workshop with Norm. A full schedule of fute dates is on our website at http://www.imhca.org

New Funding Opportunities from IVPA

The Illinois Violence Prevention Authority (IVPA) is pleased to announce the release of two competitive grants. The Requests for Proposals will be available for download from our website, www.ivpa.org.

FY 10 Say It Out Loud Grant

The RFP for the FY 10 Say It Out Loud Grant (SIOL) will be available on our website, www.ivpa.org on September 23, 2009. On behalf of the Illinois Children’s Mental Health Partnership, IVPA will accept applications from non-profit organizations or units of local government based in Illinois. Up to ten (10) grants, in amounts of up to $10,000 each, will be awarded for the period of January 1, 2010 – December 31, 2010.

FY 09 SIOL grantees are not eligible to apply.

Say It Out Loud (SIOL) is a multi-year statewide campaign designed to promote good mental health for everyone, reduce the barriers that prevent too many people from seeking or offering help and support, and build a stronger base of support and network of services for people with mental health challenges. See http://mentalhealthillinois.org for more details on the SIOL campaign.

IVPA will host a Bidders Conference Call on Thursday, October 15, 2009 at 2:00 pm.

The Bidders Conference will provide participants with an overview of the Say It Out Loud Grant, the RFP

and budget requirements. Please see the RFP for details.

For more information about the SIOL Grant, please contact Barbara Shaw at 312-814-8259 or Barbara.shaw@illinois.gov.

FY 10 Youth-Led Violence Prevention Mini Grant

The RFP for the FY 10 Youth- Led Mini Grant (YLMG) will be available on our website, www.ivpa.org, on September 23, 2009. Community organizations and government agencies are eligible to apply for 12 month grants (1/1/10-12/31/10) for up to $5,000 to implement youth-led violence prevention projects.

The Youth Led Mini Grants allow youth and community agencies to develop or enhance youth violence prevention programming. The purpose of this grant is to support youth efforts in identifying resources and community issues, and designing and implementing projects that address youth violence. Additionally, the grant encourages youth leadership, empowerment, and peer recognition.

In partnership with the Illinois African American Coalition for Prevention (ILAACP), IVPA will host a Bidders Conference Call on Tuesday, October 6 at 3:30 pm. The Bidders Conference will provide participants with an overview of the Youth-Led Mini Grant, the RFP and budget requirements in addition to information on youth and adult partnerships. The Bidders Conference is not mandatory, but it is recommended for youth and adult supporters that are interested in applying for the grant. Please see the RFP for details.

The RFP is available for download from our website (www.ivpa.org) on September 23, 2009. The Power Point for the Bidders Conference is also available for download. If you have any questions about IVPA or the RFP, please contact Sara Moffitt at 312-814-8261or sara.moffitt@illinois.gov.

Anne G. Studzinski

Illinois Childhood Trauma Coalition

208 South LaSalle Street, Suite 1490

Chicago, IL 60604

312/516-5560

astudzinski@voices4kids.org