When GOP members of the U.S. Senate failed to garner enough votes to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), constituents wondered if they’d ever been serious about their pledges. The House of Representatives delivered over 50 repeal bills, and in December 2015 the Senate passed an amended version, confident that President Obama would veto it. […]
Two governance items from the August meeting of the Council of Representatives of the American Psychological Association (APA) deserve immediate action from APA members. The full minutes are available at http://www.apa.org/about/governance/council/minutes-summer-2017.pdf. The two that bear comment follow. The first reads: “VII. PUBLICATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS A.(12) Council voted to approve amending the Association Rules as follows […]
For the last decade, the publisher of the MMPI instruments, the University of Minnesota Press, and its distributor, Pearson Assessments, told psychologists that “the standard has evolved” with publication of the MMPI-2-RF in 2008 and the MMPI-A-RF in 2016. In fact, the MMPI-2-RF was less an evolution than a new creation, with the original empirical, […]
I never expected my life to turn out as it has. My plan was to graduate college, attend graduate school, obtain my doctorate and become a licensed clinical psychologist. That was how I envisioned my life, and I was determined that nothing was to sway me away from my plan. Reality, on the other hand, […]
You receive a request for services via voicemail from an individual using a video-phone relay service, suggesting the potential client is deaf or hard-of-hearing (HOH). Upon returning this individual’s call, they identify themselves as deaf and request the presence of a licensed and certified American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter at their intake the following week. […]
Privatized Medicare plans can be confusing both to plan subscribers and health care providers. The word “Medicare” on forms or insurance cards for privatized Medicare programs might make them believe the plan is the federal Medicare program –but there are significant differences between Medicare and privatized Medicare plans. Medicare is administered through the Center for […]
On Sept. 10 Hurricane Irma’s eyewall passed over my home and made landfall in the Florida Keys as a Category 4 storm. My wife and I were long gone; we had evacuated first to the home of friends in Orlando and then continued on to Georgia to seek sanctuary with our younger son and his […]
Psychologists are increasingly incorporating the use of technology to provide a wide range of services. Older technologies such as telephones and facsimile machines have been used for decades but more often use of newer technologies such as teleconferencing, email or texting are becoming common practice. Psychological services provided via telecommunications or telepsychology can include not […]
Working ethically with sexual and gender minority clients requires cultural competence. While this column attempts to address some specific ethical issues, clinicians are advised to seek training and supervision and to develop relationships with LGBTQ people outside of the office to continue to develop cultural competence. It is also important to recognize that there are […]
Washington, D.C. – A researcher with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine told psychologists at the 125th Annual Convention of the American Psychological Association that physicians in private practice are under-using a drug that could help combat the nation’s epidemic of opioid addiction. Andrew Huhn, Ph.D., a postdoctoral fellow with the school’s behavioral pharmacology […]
