[acb-hsp] FW: Compulsory education for counselors in 2014?

[Baracco, Andrew W]

Subject: Compulsory education for counselors in 2014?

 

 

Issue Date: Online Exclusive

Compulsory education for counselors?
Addiction counselors face de facto master's degree requirement in 2014,
by Alison Knopf 

Counselors in the addictions field - many of them with years and even
decades of experience-may have to go back to school to get their
master's degrees if they want to work in the world of the future,
experts say. This is not because the Affordable Care Act (ACA)-the
health reform law that kicks in in 2014-requires it. Rather, the
requirement is coming from payers: state Medicaid programs, and private
insurance companies.

"The federal government leaves it to the states to make laws on legal
regulation of professionals," said Mark Weber, communications director
for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration
(SAMHSA), which has the responsibility of making sure the workforce will
be available to meet the need in 2014. Because the rules are
state-based, the requirements vary widely, Weber added.

There are three levels in the legal regulation of addiction
professionals: registration, certification and licensing. Typically,
only a licensed professional is able to independently diagnose and treat
substance use conditions. Many states also certify counselors, and for
these professionals, "independent practice is not usually in their scope
of service law," Weber noted. Nevertheless, a certified substance abuse
counselor can usually provide treatment in a clinic because he or she is
supervised by someone with at least a master's degree. 

Some states now have two levels of counselors; the first does not have a
master's, and cannot independently diagnose and treat, and the second
does. "The payer then determines what providers may receive payment,
usually following state practice laws," said Weber. Many payers do
reimburse the facility, but still may require that each clinician
working there meet independent practice laws. 

"It does look as if states are going in that direction," said Laurie J.
Krom, director of the national office of the Addiction Technology
Transfer Center, located at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. "A
master's degree is going to be needed, and in some states, that's
already the case."

Carol McDaid, principal with lobbying firm Capitol Decisions, agreed.
"Although there is not an explicit reference in the ACA requiring a
Master's, there is the marketplace reality that most commercial insurers
require it," she explained. Since the commercial insurers will be
running many state Medicaid programs and be the main players in the
exchanges, McDaid believes that the master's degree "will be a de facto
requirement." 

For a full-time employee in a treatment center who makes $35,000 a year
and has family responsibilities, is going back to school for a Master's
degree even a possibility? "We need to give more thought about what can
be done for these individuals," said Krom. "I hope there is some action
at the federal level to provide incentives or loan relief, working
perhaps with community colleges that can bridge to four-year programs,"
she said. "We need to design programs that can set people up for
success." 

Krom is encouraged by the fact that other leaders of substance abuse
organizations have started talking about this issue. Also encouraging
was the report from the senate committee that appropriates funding to
SAMHSA this month directing the agency to take a closer look at the
workforce, and to produce a report on it by the end of March, detailing
what SAMHSA's role will be and what the role of the Health Resources and
Services Administration, which administers federally qualified health
centers, will be.

There has always been a concern that Ph.D. programs training social
workers and psychologists don't include enough addiction-specific
coursework, said Krom. While there are some programs that include
substance abuse, there are many more that don't require even one course,
she said. "That's been an issue for years," she said. "It's exacerbated
by the fact that private insurance companies are de facto approving
social workers without looking at whether they are able to treat people
with addictions."

Many insurance companies have found it expedient to set up a panel of
behavioral health providers who are supposed to be able to treat mental
illness, substance abuse, or both. 

Alison Knopf is a freelance writer.

 

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.acb.org/pipermail/acb-hsp/attachments/20111031/48fddec8/attachment.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.gif
Type: image/gif
Size: 4416 bytes
Desc: image001.gif
URL: <http://www.acb.org/pipermail/acb-hsp/attachments/20111031/48fddec8/attachment.gif>