Being nominated for Division 42’s Member at Large is indeed an honor. And, being the only bald guy among the nominees is also an honor…I think? Seriously, all are great candidates and Division 42 will be well served by any of the nominees.
I have been in private practice for over 25 years now, and I have seen many changes in practice over those years. Not being one to be uninvolved, I have been very active over the years in dealing with issues adverse to our practices and advocating for issues that have been proactive for practice. At both state and national levels, I have been a strong advocate for practice and have been at the forefront of ensuring that psychology has a prominent role in mental health care. As a member of my state association, I have held several offices including President. As some of you know I am currently the Council Delegate for Louisiana. I have been an integral part of getting legislation passed for practice. I have worked on passing laws in our state beneficial to psychology such as: “freedom of choice,” involuntary commitment, mental health parity, hospital staff privileges, and, of course, prescription privileges. I am a Board member of the Louisiana Academy of Medical Psychologists. But in my view, being involved in promoting psychology within psychology is not enough. I am also a member of the Board of Directors of a General Hospital and have Chaired the hospital’s Ethics and Pharmacy & Therapeutics Committees. I am the only mental health advocate on the Louisiana Health Care Commission, appointed by the Commissioner of Insurance, and I am Co-Chair of the Region IV Mental Health Advisory Board. On the national level, I was one of the first psychologists to have hospital admitting privileges. Subsequently, I wrote a pamphlet on passing a statute that was adopted by APA on the national level. As many of you know, I am a medical psychologist with prescriptive authority, and I have been traveling to other states assisting with their efforts at passing prescriptive authority legislation. I am currently a member of CAPP and Chair CAPP’s RxP Subcommittee. Recently, I was appointed by CAPP to the Task Force charged with reviewing the psychopharmacology training model and policies. I am an advocate for psychology.
With regard to Division 42, I have been actively involved for the past several years. I am proud to have served on the Membership Committee and to have helped to bring new members into such a fantastic division. Much of my work for Division 42 has been “behind the scenes,” where I often like to be. I was very honored to be appointed, during the Presidency of Dr. Ron Fox, to the Task Force charged with looking at ways to enhance practitioner income. As a result of the work of this task force, Division 42’s Board adopted several recommendations. I was appointed to a Task Force to review and revise the guidelines on Responding to Subpoenas. In addition, I was appointed by President Jeff Barnett to a Task Force that is charged with reviewing the proposed “Forensic Guidelines” to assist and advise Division 42 how such proposed guidelines may impact practitioners. I have thoroughly enjoyed working within the Division. Though you may not see my smiling face in the limelight (the glare off of my head may be too much), know that I am working behind the scenes, and will continue to work for practitioners.
Division 42 and independent practitioners have faced and continue to face challenges. We continue to struggle in our efforts to deal with managed care and reimbursement in a difficult health care economy. While there are those who suggest “evidence based” practice is here and here to stay, we must investigate ways to position practitioners in the best possible proactive position rather than simply accepting what some are suggesting is inevitable and accepting whatever position we may be given. I am obviously an advocate of prescriptive authority. I do believe this is one of the progressive directions that our profession must pursue. It is not for all, but it does represent a step toward a practitioner who can bring all of the tools we currently have available to assist in providing the most comprehensive mental health care possible. We must position ourselves as primary mental health care professionals. Finally, I believe we must soothe the inner tension. Circling the wagons and shooting inward is counterproductive to us all. I believe perhaps the strongest quality I can bring as a candidate is my ability to work well, together, with the diversity of professionals and professional opinions within our ranks and with the diversity of professionals with whom we must work outside of our profession.
Again, I am honored that you would consider me to represent you. I look forward to continuing to work for psychology and, more specifically, practitioners.
Rosalind S. Dorlen, Psy.D
Service to Division 42
I authored a Niche Guide for Division 42, Starting and Growing an Independent Practice for Early Career Psychologists, and served as Chair of the Membership Committee where I developed a strategic plan to increase membership. I am on the Marketing and Public Education Committee and will serve as Its Chair in 2007.
Relevant Experience
I am committed to empowering independent practitioners and advocating for our profession. During nearly three decades as a full-time independent practitioner, I’ve held numerous governance and leadership positions at the local, state, and national levels. I am serving my second term as member of the Committee for the Advancement of Professional Practice (CAPP). My demonstrated expertise has been in finding new vehicles, markets, and expanding opportunities for psychologists in independent practice. I am a Fellow of Division 31 and serve on the Board of Directors of the National Register. As Chair of the Council on Psychological Health in New Jersey, I developed an incentive-based program called Psychologically Healthy Workplace Awards, which provides recognition to companies and corporations that value psychologically healthy workplaces. This program has been duplicated and implemented throughout the country and APA now provides awards to deserving companies. While President of the New Jersey Psychological Association, I participated in a joint effort with APA to bring the first test-case lawsuit against a managed care company on behalf of psychology.
Independent practitioners need to face the challenges of declining reimbursement rates, increasing competition in the marketplace; emerging cost containment strategies by insurance companies e.g., “Pay for Performance”; and holding managed care companies accountable for their harmful actions. The Division needs to work collaboratively and strategically to address the important issues that will strengthen our profession: mobility, prescriptive authority, parity, telehealth, support for early career psychologists, and ensuring our privileges in hospitals and health care facilities. We need a stronger voice with consumers/buyers of psychological services and the legislators who represent them. We need to ensure that treatment decisions are made by independent psychologists in collaboration with their patients and not by insurance personnel unfamiliar with case specifics.
How Division 42 Can Address these Issues
While Rome is burning, we can’t sit around arguing about who is going to play the fiddle. Independent practitioners increasingly find MCO’s and other third party payors are “eating our lunch”. We need to be mindful that while many MCO’s did not reduce fees, they clearly did not raise them for 15 years.
Division 42 needs to:
support psychology as a primary health care profession
recognize the increasing diversity of our membership and attend to our heterogeneously, multi-cultural, client base
educate our members to think entrepreneurially and provide strategies and tools to make our practices thrive and incomes grow
enhance independent practitioners skills and expand niche opportunities
assist practitioners in effectively and ethically marketing their practices.
I will bring my skills, energy, and creativity to the position of Member-at-Large of Division 42. I ask for your vote.
Tammy Martin-Causey, PhD
I would be honored to serve you as Member-at-Large for Division 42. This division has been invaluable to me over the past few years in terms of the success of my independent practice and I hope to be able to give back and continue to keep Div 42 a strong division that responds to the changing needs of private practitioners. Currently for Division 42, I am Chair, Marketing and Public Education Committee, Chair, Expanding the Business of Psychology Task Force, and am Associate Chair for Convention Programs. Last year, I was a member of the Marketing and Public Education Committee.
In addition to my work with 42, I am active with my state organization. I’m currently on the Governing Council as Professional Practice Representative and serve on the Disaster Response and Legislative Committees. Prior to this year, I served as Secretary for my state organization and Chair of the Legislative Committee. I’ve also served numerous other committees. Although I am currently in full-time private practice, I have a work history that includes agency administration, grant writing, research, teaching and supervision.
There are many issues facing practitioners today that are of concern. The changing landscape of 3rd party reimbursements no longer “guarantees” a viable income and successful psychology practice. We need to continually monitor what our potential clients need in terms of services and we need to be flexible in our service delivery in order to meet these needs. If independent practitioners are not going to allow the survival of our practices to be dependent on outside forces, we need to develop business and marketing skills, learn to diversify and retool if necessary. Psychology has much to offer every aspect of life, culture, society, and relationships. We need to find new ways of employing our psychological expertise in order to grow our practices and achieve the lifestyles we envision.
Ways Division 42 can make this successful is by educating members on basic business and marketing skills, continually research viable niche areas and alternative ways of practice, and by continuing to look to the future for new opportunities as we change with our society. I am already involved with Division 42 in addressing some of these issues. Currently, I am heading up a Task Force, “Expanding the Business of Psychology”. There are teams of people on this task force that are collecting data on progressive marketing strategies, expanding practice opportunities by partnering with businesses, concierge and alternative ways of practice delivery, and practicing psychology in ways that are more culturally appropriate to our clients. I would like to continue this focus so that newer psychologists will come out of graduate school saying “Wow! Look at all the opportunities that await me. I am SO glad I chose psychology as my profession!”
Glenn A. Ally, Ph.D.
Rosalind S. Dorlen, Psy.D
Tammy Martin-Causey, PhD