Therapy Tidbits – November/December 2016

Therapy Tidbits – November/December 2016 is a 1-hour online continuing education (CE) course comprised of select articles from the November/December 2016 issue of The National Psychologist, a private, independent bi-monthly newspaper intended to keep mental health professionals informed about practice issues. The articles included in this course are:

New ACA Rule May be Onerous Burden – or Totally Irrelevant – for Psychologists: Gordon Herz, PhD, a clinical psychologist in Madison, WI, reviews provisions of the federal antidiscrimination rules that require many providers of health-related services to post notices in 15 languages that translation services will be provided free of charge to those who have trouble speaking and understanding English.

Researchers Outline Trends in Integrated Care: Discusses the integration of medical and behavioral health care, creating growing opportunities for mental health practitioners to provide therapy for medical patients and their families

Fraud Grabs Headlines but Psychologists More Often Troubled by Poor Documentation: Examines Medicare fraud and the more common issues of waste and abuse in mental health.

Clinical Personality Testing: Decline and Possible Resurgence: Reviews the rise and fall of personality assessment and how prevailing models of diagnosis and treatment have affected the change.

Psychological Services in Multidisciplinary Pain Management: As an early career psychologist, this is what you need to know about practicing in a multidisciplinary pain management clinic.

Consider Risks When Contracting with Commercial Teletherapy Companies: Highlights some of the risks of working with these businesses and suggests some questions clinicians can consider prior to contracting with them.

Patients – and Psychologists – Need Technology Relief: There is ample evidence that technology and our busy lives overly stimulate our brains. There is also evidence that certain activities calm our brains; several suggestions are offered.

Ethical Considerations in Hospital Settings: Discusses the unique ethical challenges psychologists in hospital settings face, such as obtaining informed consent in a fast-paced environment, maintaining confidentiality with multidisciplinary teams and providing specialty training supervision.

Mental Health’s Negative View of Marketing: Argues for the use of self-promotion of mental health providers to “brand” themselves as “experts” – such as writing articles and books or speaking on the radio and professionally.