LEGISLATIVE AGENDA
COLA Advocacy
Dr. Aida IsmaelLennon, PsyD Co-Chair, COLA
T
he Committee on Legislative Affairs (COLA) is part of the NJPA executive board charged with introducing and monitoring legislation that impacts our profession and the public we serve. Together with the Committee on Regulatory Affairs (CORA), and our Government Affairs Agent (GAA), COLA seeks to maintain and enhance standards of psychology practice in NJ and protect patients’ rights by supporting public policy initiatives. These include the NJ Licensing Act legislation, Maiden Names legislation, Network Adequacy legislation, Duty to Warn Amended law, ABA legislation, among others. Building on the work of the 2019 committee Chair, Dr. Barry Katz, my CoChair President-Elect, Daniel Lee, PsyD and I have several strategic priorities for COLA in 2020. We look to advance NJPA’s strategic plan by a) continuing to research prescriptive authority’s pros and cons for psychologists and to advocate for responsive action for client’s needs, b) develop in-house Medicaid and Medicare expertise to facilitate member involvement, c) continue to advocate for fair reimbursement rates from insurance companies, d) train members in legislative advocacy for professional issues, and e) develop recruiting efforts for new COLA members. Diverse opinions within COLA, and within the larger organization, abound regarding professional practice issues such as RxP. For example, beginning in 2016 COLA began examining and disseminating information about RxP. Pressures associated with a dearth of qualified professionals to prescribe medication in many areas of the country have weighed against storied arguments about training credentials and associated guild issues. There are varying opinions on this issue among members. Data indicating that psychologists with a tradition of behavioral, social-emotional, and interpersonal interventions more closely monitor the interaction of personal change and
Winter 2020
psychopharmacological impact serve as supporting arguments. This data suggests RxP may serve the public good, particularly in urban and rural areas where persons-in-need are denied access to full mental health services. The legislation in New Jersey proposes setting high standards for education and supervision. Others argue against RxP fearing that expanding the scope of practice, in this way, might alter the profession’s identity. In keeping with NJPA’s strategic plan, COLA will be forming a task force to further research RxP’s pros and cons. While likely to provoke attention, thinking about prescription privileges illustrates how the work of NJPA, and its committees, intersects along the lines of inclusion, diversity, social justice, and poverty. Issues that COLA considers, including Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, problems with insurance panels, and the need for legislative action, share a core principle, mental health parity, or the right of all people to appropriate treatment for emotional and behavioral problems. Failure to ensure this right is readily apparent in rising suicide rates among young people, horrific and sensational crimes against vulnerable groups, the opioid crisis, and gun violence. At its core, COLA provides an opportunity for practitioners and researchers to develop ideas about how psychology can care for the public good in ways that are formed by evidence-based policies and interventions. The practice of psychology is governed by socio-political forces that establish legislation regulating our profession, but also can inappropriately steer the public away from access to highly trained psychologists. Some might argue that we are too highly trained, as we recently suggested in reviewing the number of supervision hours required for post-doctoral training. On the other hand, psychology has, until recently, neglected our MA level colleagues in psychology and ignored intrusions from various guilds, including in the recent NJ legislative session, Applied Behavior Analysts, who are essentially seeking parity with licensed psychologists. As we look ahead to 2020, we intend to elaborate on these efforts and continue our commitment to transparency that we are confident will allow all our members to feel included and to know they have a
voice. These changes include a revised confidentiality agreement allowing for comments on upcoming legislative matters, our president-elect to co-chair COLA and report to the executive board and membership, COLA submitting legislative bill position recommendations for board approval, as well as an RxP Town Hall to be held by Dr. Lucy Sant’Anna Takagi. We also will continue to encourage participation in the committee by recruiting more members to join us. COLA needs members from a variety of backgrounds that are willing to offer their expertise in matters related to the legislative topics we are charged in monitoring. We need diverse voices and opinions so we can take on the challenges of living in an increasingly polarized society. Most importantly, we hope to offer expert opinion that encourages legislative action based on psychological research. I live in Jersey City, about a mile from where a brave police officer lost his life in a cemetery and about two miles from where several members of our community, working in a Kosher grocery, carrying on in good will and good faith, were gunned down, violently and wantonly. Because I live so close and frequently travel past the places where it happened, it is literally difficult to “get past” the images of this horrific tragedy. I also grieve for the loss of life of a young Columbia University student at the hands of young children of 13 and 14 years of age, whose lives will also be inexorably affected. I hope to add a COLA focus on Psychology in the Schools to develop proactive interventions for these lost and wandering children based on evidence-based practice. Finally, I have also been affected by the drawings of a tortured, but innocent man, detained in Guantanamo Bay, in whose agony psychology was apparently complicit. You may have similar events or images in your life. Perhaps, these images will drive you to work with us, lending your training, expertise, and empathy to put psychology in practice for the best interest of the public we serve. Visit the members only page at <www.psychologynj.org> to view and comment on a summary of the legislative priorities of NJPA. Finally, consider joining COLA! If interested, please contact NJPA Executive Director, Keira BoertzelSmith, at njpakbs@psychologynj.org or at 973-243-9800. ❖ 5
