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Linda Campbell, Ph.D. |
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Campbell Named President of Georgia State Board of Examiners of Psychologists
NATIONAL NEWS
APA Council Report
The 2002 APA Ethics Code and Multicultural Guidelines Approval: Responding to a New Age of Psychology
Linda Campbell, Ph.D.
Council of Representatives
New APA Ethics Code - Not To Fear: It's User Friendly
The APA Ethics Code was in its Draft 7 iteration. I was honored to be a member of the Ethics Code Task Force during the last year of development and therefore know the work that went into the draft. Over 1,300 comments were received over the five year period of development and each comment was read by a member of the committee. The Chair, Celia Fisher, read every comment herself and deserves small sainthood (one must be dead to be declared a large saint). She is truly a remarkable person and our profession is most fortunate that she is one of us. The 2002 Code retains significant sections of the 1992 Code that are still current and relevant, so those of us who have become familiar with the 1992 will not be starting at square one with the 2002 Code.. In fact, the total number of sub-standards is fewer than in the 1992 Code. The major changes and additions focus on greater specificity in informed consent, confidentiality, assessment, and education and training. HIPAA rules were taken into consideration in the final draft. More on HIPAA to follow. The Code of Ethics will appear in the December, 2002 issue of the American Psychologist and will be implemented in June, 2003.
Public Interest Initiatives - Yes, Virginia, There Still Is a Santa Claus and Public Interest Is Alive and Well In Psychology!
After several years of hard work, feedback, and going back to the drawing board, Nadya Fouad and Patricia Arredondo, Co-Chairs of the Task Force on "Guidelines on Multicultural Education, Training, Research, Practice, and Organizational Change for Psychologists" received a unanimous vote from Council to adopt the Guidelines beginning 2003. We will be receiving copies soon at the GPA Office and the document will be posted on the APA Public Interest Directorate web site. Please take a look at the Guidelines and if you want to discuss or clarify any points, I am happy to talk with you about it and in turn, to talk with Nadya or Patricia about any further clarification our members request.
Also, in the public interest area, two changes to the mission of APA were unanimously approved to be sent to the membership for a vote. These changes affect the by-laws and therefore need member votes. The recommendations are to add the terms (and meaning) of "education" and "health" to the mission statement ofAPA. The mission will now read, "...to advance psychology as a science and as a profession and as a means of promoting education, health, and human welfare." If some of you are wondering why education and health were not part of our mission before, you are not alone.
Budget Matters - Where's Regis Philbin and His Millionaire Show When You Need Him!
HIPAA Replacement
No, there isn't a replacement. Just another weak joke on my part. There is, however, good news to follow on the heels of the bad news that we are all going to have to comply with these new regulations. The APA Practice Directorate is doing some phenomenal work, by my non-technology standards, to help practitioners be ready for these changes. I spoke with Russ Newman about the importance of our members getting guidance and instruction on what these changes mean and how to deal with them. He indicated dates and products that will be available, some of which are the following:
We have good news and bad news. The bad news is that at the end of 2001, APA was running a $ 6 million dollar deficit. The good news is that we still have Jack McKay (Financial Officer) and Gerry Koocher (Treasurer) at the helm, along with a no nonsense Board of Directors and President. This group was given the authority by Council last February to make the decisions necessary to make us fiscally sound again. The Finance Committee instituted the following measures that took effect immediately:
- One of two yearly meetings of all boards and committees was cancelled for 2002-03.
- The 2003 Division Leadership Conference was cancelled. The 2002 Education Leadership Conference was cancelled
The Office of Communications research and development fund was reduced by 50% - The Convention registration was increased by $20.00 The member dues was increased by $10.00.
- Staff changes that are voluntary include: Early retirement, reduction in time worked, and leave without pay. Involuntary staff changes include: Removal of 4% merit pool from the 2003 budget, reorganization ofcentral office to streamline operations specifically with boards and committees, suspension of leave payout, and reduction of retirement contribution from 5% to 4%.
By the end of 2003, the Finance Committee has projected a surplus of $526,600. How will we do it? Can the above decreases suffice? No. What will we do to restabilize? The choices of what to do were these: (a) Leverage our long term portfolio- which no one wants to do, (b) sell our communications department- no one wants to do this either, (c) regarding our real estate, either take out a second mortgage on the properties, sell a building, or refinance the properties. The winner among these not too inviting choices is to refinance the properties. This decision passed Council unanimously. This option will yield $20-25 million dollars with which we will pay down debt, increase long term investments, and require a balanced budget for 2004.
By the way, in case anyone missed it in the earlier paragraph, member dues were increased by $10.00 per year for full membership. The two budgetary decisions to directly affect individual members are the member dues and the $20.00 increase in registration for the APA Convention.
April, 2002 - A getting Ready for HIPAA: What You Need To Know primer was mailed to all special assessment payers, APA Trust insureds and practice oriented graduate students.
August 20, 2002 - Instructions on how to fill out and file a HIPAA Transactions Rule compliance extension form was mailed to the group identified above.
October 15, 2002 - HIPAA Transactions Rule compliance extension form is due to the Center for Medicare & Medicaid services.
October 16, 2002 - Deadline for compliance with HIPAA Transactions Rule unless an extension form was submitted.
December 1, 2002 - HIPAA Privacy Rule Compliance Resource available at APApractice.org. This product will enable practitioners to comply with the HIPAA Rule which has a deadline of April 14, 2003. It will come complete with model policies, procedures and forms customized for each state based upon requirements of relevant state law and in our case, it will be customized for Georgia.
April 14, 2003 - Deadline for compliance with HIPAA Privacy Rule.
October 16, 2003 - Deadline for Transactions Rule compliance. for those who obtained an extension on October 2002.
An important date to note is that on September 25, 2002, the portal on the APA Practice Directorate web page will be operational. The information cited above and the Georgia specific information will be there. As I understand this portal offering, very impressive technological advances have been enlisted to assist the Practice Directorate in helping practitioners understand and implement these changes.
For your clarification, the above information on HIPAA is not part of action taken at Council, but reflects information from meetings in which the details of the plan were described.
Potpourri
Just in case you are thinking that Council is beginning to sound very no nonsense, rational, and dealing only with weighty issues, you may want to read further. The Committee on Structure and Function recommended that the name of Council should be changed to Board of Directors and the Board of Directors changed to another name but had no recommendation as to what that name should be. They later decided the current Board of Directors should be called the Executive Committee. This change was recommended to underscore the fact that Council is the ultimate decision-making body for the association. Never mind that we had just finished a long discussion about the budgetary problems and this recommendation would require changing all official documents. This motion was defeated, but only narrowly.
I try to editorialize only rarely in my Council reports, but yes, you are right if you're thinking that this is the most self-indulgent, inane, and embarrassing idea we have had since the time we used thousands of pieces of paper rewriting and making multiple copies of the motion to require APA to use recyclable paper.
I shall end on a happy note to tell you that Council voted to approve a student member of APAGS as a voting member of Council and a non-voting member of the Board of Directors.
As always, I invite you to contact me with any questions or comments. I am your representative and want to convey your ideas and wishes at Council. Phone: (Home) 770-594-9440, (Work) 706-542-8508, (e-mail) lcampbel@arches.uga.edu
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