Committee on Legislative Affairs (COLA)
October 19, 2016Meeting Minutes
7:00-9:00 pm
NJPA Central Office
Members Present:Axelbank, Jeffrey H PsyD (2019), Gorman, Ashley, PhD (2017)
(Secretary); Hagovsky, Mathias, PhD (2017)(COLA Chair);Hanbury, Raymond F PhD (2018); Lee, Alan J PsyD (2019); Newsome, Hulon, PsyD (2017) (COLA Past-Chair, NJPA President-Elect); Singer, Mark EdD (2018)(COLA Chair-Elect);
Weiss, Frank, PhD (2016); Zylik, Boertzel-Smith, Keira JD (Executive Director); Bombardieri, Jon (Government Affairs Agent)
Resource Guests: Buchanan, Suzanne, PsyD; Waters, Virginia, PhD; Jason Tosches
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I. Call to Order
II. June Minutes – approved via e-vote
III. New Legislative Bills
A1663/S1142 Requires county, municipal, and campus police departments to establish cultural diversity training
[(A) Schaer, Prieto, Sumter, Danielsen, Johnson, Mukherji/(S) Turner]
Barry Katz “Psychologists need to be involved in this state level of strategic planning….As psychologists we could assist in conflict resolution, apply psychological principals to improve police training (including any implicit biases, stressful situation effects on reaction times, PTSD affecting job performance, etc), improve community-police relations, be a source of informed expert opinion and to help make New Jersey a safer place for everyone.”
Hanbury and Dranoff
This bill has been already been signed into law.
S2319/A3877 Establishes guidelines for termination of patient-health care professional relationship
[(S) Scutari/(A) Kennedy]
Axelbank and Weiss
Position: MONITOR
S2331/A3962 Establishes tuition reimbursement program for certain psychiatrists who work in underserved areas in New Jersey.
[(S) Codey, Vitale/ (A) Jasey, McKeon, Vainieri Huttle, Munoz]
NJPA History - Email conversation after June COLA meeting. Proposed NJPA amendment language was rejected -“Tuition reimbursement for psychology graduate school is available to psychologists who are Medicaid providers and agree to see some number of Medicaid patients over some period of time.” Do we want to create our own bill?
POSITION: MONITOR
No immediate plans to create our own bill at this time.
S2498/ A3743 Requires certain health benefits plans to provide coverage for behavioral health care services determined to be medically necessary, including 90 days per year of inpatient residential care.
[(S) Vitale/ (A) McKeon,Lampitt, Vainieri Huttle, Lagana, Benson]
Axelbank and Sofair-FIsch
POSITION: SUPPORT
S2499/A3712 Requires certain health benefits plans to provide treatment for substance abuse and dependency when determined medically necessary by physician or psychologist.
Last Session Bill Number: A3249
[(S) Vitale, (A) Conaway, Vainieri Huttle]
Lee and Lauer-Listhaus
POSITION:SUPPORT
A2938 Requires firearms seizure when mental health professional determines patient poses threat of harm to self or others.
Last Session A674
[(A) Jones, Mosquera]
Axelbank and Lauer-Listhaus
POSITION: MONITOR
S2608/ A927 Creates new $100 assessment for convictions of certain sexual offenses to fund counseling for victims and their families; establishes Sexual Offender Victim Counseling Fund
[(S) Vitale,Ruiz/ (A) Wolfe, Holley]
Lee and Newsome
POSITION: SUPPORT
IV. Rapid Response Bills – September 2016
AJR102 Designates September of each year as "Youth Suicide Prevention Awareness Month" in New Jersey
[(A) Downey, Houghtaling, Quijano, Mosquera]
(Rapid response Bill - NJPA Slip of Support 9/19/16 – Bombardieri Update )
Hanbury and Zylik - lead the discussion even though NJPA submitted a slip of support
UPDATE: ACTION ALREADY TAKEN ON THIS BILL; NJPA SUBMITTED SLIP OF SUPORT; BILL PASSED ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE; PASSED THE FLOOR OF ASSEMBLY; INTRODUCED INTO THE SENATE
S2521/A4246 Provides for monitoring and evaluation of transition of mental health and substance use disorder treatment service system to fee-for-service reimbursement model.
Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens
[(S) Vitale, Gordon/(A) Benson Huttle]
(Rapid response Bill - NJPA Slip of Support 9/22/16 – Bombardieri Update )
Dranoff and Sofair-Fisch - - lead the discussion even though NJPA submitted a slip of support
UPDATE: NJPA SUBMITTED SLIP OF SUPPORT; BILL PASSED SENATE HEALTH COMMITTEE, NO ACTION IN THE ASSEMBLY YET
V. 2016-2017 Legislative Priorities Update
A. Grants prescriptive authority to certain psychologists
[(A) Diegnan] [(S) Weinberg](2014-2015 bill #s A2892/S1864)
Assemblywoman Downey Meeting - September 26, 2016 – Bob McGrath
Assemblyman Kean Meeting - October 5th– Sean Evers
Update: Gill is no longer the chair of this committee
B. S707/A2298 Requires certain health benefits plans to provide treatment for behavioral health care services when determined medically necessary.
[(S) Gordon/ (A) Huttle]Bills are not identical (2014-2015 bill #sS2180 /A3450)
Assembly Huttle meeting
Senate Testimony Hearing
Update: upcoming hearing on the bill before end of year; scope of bill has been narrowed
C. S291 Telepsychology –
[(S) Vitale,Whelan, Allen/ (A) Lampitt,Coughlin,Conaway]
Review of bill language and suggested COLA amendments
Update: bill passed out of the Senate; will be posted in Assembly soon; insurance companies would have to reimburse for telepsychology
Proposed changes to the bill regarding definition of practice of psychological services to encompass all those services listed under the scope of practice for psychologists under the licensing act.
Discussion ensued regarding technology required to support HIPAA compliant transmission for purposes of telepsychology.
D. A3303/S1703 Increases Medicaid reimbursement rates for certain evidence-based behavioral health services; designated as the Mental Health Access Act.
[(A) Vainieri Huttle, Benson, Lagana, Sumter/ (S) Vitale]
**** To Discuss - Policy Change for interns and temporary permit holders issue – how to address Policy vs. Legislative
**** Christie articles on ACA and Medicaid Expansion
The New Jersey Psychological Association (NJPA) requests a face to face meeting with officials at the New Jersey Medicaid office for the purpose of discussing the recent change in Medicaid rates in New Jersey and the future of psychologists as Medicaid providers.As a result of these recent changes, our members have expressed an interest in becoming Medicaid providers but also have many questions about the details of enrollment. These questions follow Medicaid’s initial answers to our questions. These questions regard doctoral psychology students and permit holders and their past ability to see Medicaid patients. They have follow up questions about the relationship between American Board of Professional Psychologists (ABPP)certificate eligibility and Medicaid status, and rates for specialists and non-specialists. We hope to discuss the overall rates for children and adults and ways that we can work togetherto encourages a sufficient number of New Jersey psychologists’ to become providers.
Discussion ensued; Axelbank suggested that the bill is no longer relevant since the rates were increased in July 2016.
VI. Other Business
A. Legislative Events June 23, 2016 Coughlin – Bombardieri; September 29, 2016 Assemblyman Greenwald – Lee; October 25 Senator Gill - Lee; November 2, 2016 Senator Vitale- Buchanan;
Idea - COLA distribution list based on geographic location?
Update: Good participation in legislative events from NJPA members; good response from legislators
B. Managed Care Coalition Legislation ideas –
Confidentiality Legislation update [Gordon meeting - Bombardieri]
Parity Legislation– Monitor
Update: Gordon drafting bill
C. May Mental Health Awareness
AJR96/ SJR62 Designates month of May of each year as "Mental Health Awareness Month". [(A) [(A) Eustace/(S) Codey]
D.Fall Trenton Legislative Day
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 20, 2016: 2:00 p.m.- Voting Session
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 2016: 10:00 a.m.- Group 1 Committees; 12:00 p.m.- Quorum Call; 1:00 p.m.- Group 2 Committees
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2016: 10:00 a.m.- Group 3 Committees; 12:00 p.m.- Quorum Call
1:00 p.m.- Group 4 Committees
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 2016: 2:00 p.m.- Voting Session
E. 2016 Legislator of the Year – October 22, 2016 NJPA Fall Conference
Governor Richard J Codey
Update: Governor Codey is attending fall conference to accept award, press release upcoming
F. Regulations Review
BoPE regulations approved without change
NJPAF is interested in the exempt setting issue(i.e. whether permit holders can provide services in exempt settings and get reimbursed for services).
ECPs interested in postdoctoral hours and scope of practice for temporary permit holders issues
Update: no changes have been made to regulations; discussion regarding whether we should prioritize our proposes changes; benefit of further discussion with ECPs regarding their interest/concern in this issue
G. State Health Benefits Plan Design Committee
Update: continuing to monitor changes in reimbursement rates to providers
H. Conscience Clause Legislation Discussion
Update: this issue was discussed at Denver APA convention (i.e. proposed regulatory changes which have been approved in other states that would allow practicing licensed psychologists with moral or religious conflicts to refuse to treat clients or patients whose treatment goals are contrary to psychologists sincerely held beliefs.)
I. Speak Your Mind NJ
Update: should more effort/funds be put towards social media promotion (e.g. Facebook, Twitter, etc.) vs maintenance of website. Axelbank will initiate action to terminate its use. This termination will be discussed with the NJPA Executive Board.
J. ACA Changes – Insurance Companies Pulling Out of NJ Marketplace
Oscar Health Insurance, a start-up that billed itself as a new kind of insurer for a digital age, announcedon August 23rdthat it will withdraw next year from the Affordable Care Act marketplace in New Jersey — the third company to exit or cancel expansion plans in the state.Also exiting New Jersey’s marketplace in 2017 is the nation’s largest health insurer, UnitedHealthcare, which sold coverage through the exchange for 2015 and 2016 via its subsidiary, Oxford Health Plans. In addition, Aetna recently canceled plans to expand into New Jersey’s HealthCare.gov marketplace next year. That will leave New Jersey residents with three insurers offering subsidized insurance coverage on the marketplace — the same number as when the marketplace began in 2014.
K. 2017 COLA Members
The steering committee has meet about new membership and guests for the upcoming year.
VI. Meeting Adjourned 8:52pm
Respectfully Submitted,
Ashley Gorman, Ph.D., ABPP
COLA secretary
Next Meeting November 9, 2016