No. 4
Dear Division 42 Colleagues and Friends,
Below you will find a copy of an article about the value and benefits of membership in Division 42 that I recently had published in The Oregon Psychologist. It was solicited by Division 42 member and Editor of The Oregon Psychologist, Linda Grounds, Ph.D. I am indebted to Linda for the great idea and for making this happen. It is my hope that other SPTPA newsletters will publish this as well. I will be forwarding it to all SPTPA newsletter editors in the hope that they will publish it. This is being done in coordination with several other activities planned for the coming year by our Division 42 Membership Chair, Lisa Grossman, JD, Ph.D., and her great committee.
Koocher, Independent Practitioners, and APA win!
Division 42 member and independent practitioner, Gerry Koocher, Ph.D., ABPP, has been elected APA's next President-Elect. He'll begin his term on January 1, 2005. Division 42 endorsed Gerry as our top candidate. We know he'll do a great job for us all. Congratulations to Gerry.
Please be sure to vote in the APA Apportionment Balloting. The results of apportionment balloting determine how many representatives Division 42 will have on APA's Council of Representatives the coming year. It's of vital importance that we maintain the strongest presence on APA Council possible to ensure that practice issues are supported and advanced. Please help keep Division 42 the primary voice of practice on APA Council by allocating your 10 votes to Division 42.
As always, please forward your comments, questions, and suggestions for Division
42 directly to me at drjbarnett1@comcast.net.
Best regards to all - Jeff
APA Division 42
Division Assessment: $50 |
Value of Membership: Priceless |
Jeffrey E. Barnett, Psy.D.
2005 President, APA Division 42
APA's Division 42, Psychologists in Independent Practice, is APA's largest division. It is APA's home for practitioners; all practitioners and all practitioners in training. Whether one is in full-time private practice, a member of a group practice, employed in a salaried position in another setting with a part-time practice, working in a school or doing organizational consulting, or a graduate student planning to enter practice, Division 42 works to meet your needs. The "Independent" in the Division's name refers to being licensed to practice independently, not to any particular practice setting.
Division 42 provides its members with numerous benefits and resources. The Division's primary goal is to assist practitioners to be more successful in their practices and to advance practice in general. Division 42 maintains a strong commitment to diversity. Division 42 offers our website www.division42.org, a quarterly bulletin The Independent Practitioner, member listservs, 50 different practice niche guides which help practitioners develop special practice niches, home study and online CE, special convention programming geared directly to the business of practice, public relations and marketing tools, and a newly developed brochure series to provide practitioners with inexpensive materials to be given to clients or
prospective clients.
Division 42 also maintains a strong voice within APA. Not only is it the largest APA Division. but also maintains the highest visibility on the APA Council of Representatives with seven current voting seats. It has made a priority to promote practice within APA and a goal each year is to support candidates for APA President Elect who represent all phases of practice and
practitioner interests. Division 42 also believes it is important to form alliances with state associations. The Division currently has shared CE opportunities with three states and working toward expanding partnerships with as many states as possible.
The Division 42 website provides both public and members-only sides. Each offer numerous brief, yet helpful articles on topics ranging from ethics, risk management, managed care, documentation strategies, supervision, legal issues, multiple relationships, the use of technology to enhance our practices, and many others. Additionally, on the public side is a section designed primarily for graduate students and early career psychologists that provides them with similar articles of relevance to them. Additional website resources include The Bibliotherapy Project, a compilation of over 100 reviews of books that may be integrated into treatment through bibliotherapy. Visit our website at www.division42.org to see what it has to offer you.
Division 42 also offers over 50 niche guides to assist you to develop practice niches and to effectively market yourself so you may expand your practice and be more successful financially. These niche guides cover a wide range of topics and a number of them also have post-tests so you may obtain home study CE credit. Representative topics include ADHD throughout the lifespan, child custody, marital therapy, smoking cessation, health psychology, executive coaching, infertility, adolescent substance abuse, eating disorders, older adults, children in the schools, and LGBT practice, among many others. Our newest niche guide on establishing and developing a private practice is available now and a valuable tool for practitioners just starting a practice. Each niche guide includes information on techniques and interventions used, discussion of relevant research, boundary issues and ethical considerations, training opportunities, relevant resources available, marketing strategies, and more. Additional information is available on the Division 42 website as well.
Division 42 also provides members with outstanding convention programming each year at the APA Convention. At the upcoming 2005 APA Convention in Washington, D.C., along with its regular program of relevant symposia and presentations, Division 42 will provide a series of 11 workshops by many of the nation's top experts on each aspect of practice from preparing as a graduate student, to opening and running a practice, to developing niches, to retirement planning and selling your practice, along with everything else in between. In addition, in keeping with our commitment to diversity at least on participant in each workshop will be of diverse background. We plan to do the same with the rest of our convention program as well. Additionally, the presentations of each of the 11 workshop
presenters will be written-up prior to the convention and all of them will be reproduced together as the Handbook for Success in Independent Practice. It will be distributed free to all Division 42 members in attendance at our Membership Appreciation Meeting at the convention. After the convention it will be made available for a small fee to all others.
The leadership of Division 42 is working hard on the floor of APA's Council of Representatives, in concert with the APA Practice Organization and the APA Practice Directorate, with State and Provincial Psychological Association leaders, and with individual psychologists to advance the
practice agenda. We're working to protect your scope of practice, remove barriers to practice and licensure mobility, and to enable psychologists to practice to the full extent allowed by their licenses.
Because of its strong commitment to diversity, Division 42 is one of the primary supporters of the National Multicultural Conference and Summit to be held on January 27-28, 2005 in Hollywood, California. See www.multiculturalsummit.org. The Board of Directors will hold its meeting after the Summit and many of the Division 42 governance are participating in programming as well as attending the Summit.
Many psychologists are struggling to earn a living and run a successful practice. Division 42 can help. The practice of psychology is a vibrant and thriving one for numerous psychologists. Listserv members share a wealth of information and knowledge about how to be successful in practice. The bulletin, website, niche guides, brochures, marketing program, and other
resources help practitioners to be successful despite the changing marketplace. Division 42 is open to all APA members and student members with an interest in the practice of psychology. It provides the resources, information, and support needed to be successful in practice. Division 42 provides a community for practitioners and really is the home of practice within APA. For more information about Division 42 and to join, visit our website at www.division42.org. Or, contact Jeff Barnett directly at anytime at drjbarnett1@comcast.net.
Practitioner Resources:
Division 42 member, Ken Pope, posted this information on Office Software on the
Division 42 listserv. I thought some would find this to be useful:
A couple of weeks ago there was a question on another list about billing & practice
management programs that handle electronic claims submission. In my response to the other
list, I provided web addresses for 6 diverse programs that are well-designed, can handle
electronic claim submission, and have versions for both PCs and Macs. I'm cutting and pasting
that part of my response in below.
I'd recommend that anyone considering a new billing or management program consider the
issue of electronic claims submission, the degree to which the program handles the kind of
electronic claims that *you* want to do, and *how* it handles this aspect of billing. (Different programs can take very different approaches to electronic billing--an issue
that becomes more prominent under HIPAA.)
It's also important, of course, to see how well the approach and features of each program
match up with your specific wants and needs. Differences between practices in terms of size,
organization, and procedures can make a huge difference in what program "works" for a given
setting, and a program that's terrific for one practice can be a disaster for another.
Here are the 6 programs fitting the criteria above and their web addresses:
SumTime Practice Management and Billing Software for Therapists can submit HCFA electronically and has modules for other submissions: www.sumtime.com.
ShrinkRapt handles electronic claims submissions, has PC & Mac versions, and, for those who have earlier versions of their programs, sells an "Electronic Claims Module." It's at: http://www.sanersoftware.com/upgrade/index.html
TherapySoft has an optional feature for electronic billing: http://www.getphysicalsoftware.com/
PracticeMagic takes a different approach but can handle electronic submissions: http://practicemagic.com/
MedAssist has a module for electronic submissions: http://www.getphysicalsoftware.com/software/MedAssist/index.cfm?CFID=102947&CFTOKEN=21321736
There are others too, but these are some of the most prominent.
Hope this is helpful.
Ken
