Older Featured Stories

• Psychology Lags Behind Psychiatry in Health Integration Readiness
• Legalization for Medical Use Means Psychologists Should Study Marijuana
• Hurricane Trauma and Psychology: Mix Well, Stirred but not Shaken
• Health Care Reform Update: Price Transparency Movement Growing

 

From Our Last Issue...

Psychologists should study uses of marijuana

I am not aware of any ethical issues for psychologists that have arisen in reports on the increased legalization or medical use of marijuana. However, with medical marijuana legal in 29 states and the District of Columbia, I feel that psychologists in those jurisdictions have an ethical duty to be familiar with medical marijuana, including […]

New prepayment audits strike fear in Medicare providers

Reviews of Medicare claims using the traditional “pay and chase” method are nothing new, but if documentation is not thorough or if billing practices vary significantly from peers, recent pre-payment audits will threaten the existence of some psychology practices that treat older adults. One psychologist, who requested anonymity because he is currently under audit by […]

The more things change… Friedman and Nichols react to a new version of the MMPI

Personality assessment is predicated on the empirically supported proposition that under similar circumstances, individuals will behave in a predictable manner. Friedman and Nichols’s recent article in The National Psychologist, “MMPI-3: Revision of MMPI-2 or Marketing Hype,” is a case in point. The prospect of a new MMPI version has triggered behavior nearly identical to their […]

Unique Peer Consultation Issues in Rural Alaska

Far beyond the northern boundaries of the contiguous United States is Alaska. Seen from a global map, it is stunning in its isolation. Villages, most of them Alaska Native, dot the vast landscape. Indigenous ways of being are deeply valued and interpersonal connection is key to well-being if not survival. Because of the large expanses […]

From the Current Issue...

What is Obamacare anyway?

In reviewing “the state of Obamacare in 2018,” Vox policy reporter Dylan Scott wondered, “What even is Obamacare anyway?”

“It’s increasingly difficult to assess ‘Obamacare’ as if it is a single entity,” he wrote. “Because depending on how you look at it, the law might be a rousing success or it’s fallen far short of what it was hoped to be. In a sense, there are many Obamacares. Some of them are …

Risk Management: When being too helpful can backfire

When prospective clients call on the phone to ask about your services, some will also tell you a little about their problem. At this point, you may want to listen empathetically. But do not ask probing questions.

After speaking with you for a few minutes, a prospective client may make an appointment and then ask for suggestions on how to cope with their situation until they get in to see …

MedPAC’s latest lead balloon

At its Jan. 11 meeting, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC) voted 14-2 to replace the Merit-based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) with the “voluntary value program” (VVP).

The medical community has already been abuzz with the news, including blogs to AMA membership about “MedPAC’s latest lead balloon,” and frank discussion of VVP’s impact on electronic health records (EHRs).

AMA and many of its regional and specialty affiliates have published extensively …

What have we learned from 30 years of school shootings?

In May of 1988, a 30-year-old woman, Laurie Dann, walked into an elementary school in Winnetka, Ill., and opened fire with a handgun, killing an 8-year-old boy and wounding five other children before killing herself.

The Winnetka case was the first school shooting to receive national and international media attention. Since then there has been a virtual epidemic of similar cases.

The weapons have become infinitely more …

APA practice guidelines raise questions

Washington, D.C. – APA is preparing two sets of practice guidelines, which has many psychologists confused on what the difference is and others concerned that the results may be misapplied by insurers or licensing boards.

Those concerns carried over from the March 9-10 meeting of the Council of Representatives to the overlapping March 10-13 Practice Leadership Conference.

The agenda item that raised questions concerned nine months that leadership, staff and …

How to handle conflicts of ethics and the law

One of the issues that has always felt gray to many psychologists is when the APA (2010) Ethical Principles of Psychologists and Code of Conduct (Ethics Code) conflicts with the law. Should a psychologist follow the legal code or the Ethics Code?

The Ethics Code specifically states in section 1.02, “If psychologists’ ethical responsibilities conflict with law, regulations, or other governing legal authority, psychologists make known their …

Jail opens mental treatment unit

The city jail in Roanoke, Va., took an innovative step in April to deal with inmates with mental disorders. It transferred four of them into a newly designated mental health unit.

The Roanoke Times quoted Sheriff Tim Allen as saying, “You’ll never be able to turn a jail into a complete treatment center, but this will provide better treatment than what we had before because we’re also …

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