Below are the most recent reports from members who attended SLC.

In early March, four members of the AK-PA Board attended the annual State Leadership Conference (SLC) hosted by American Psychological Association (APA).

• Denise Dillard – President
• Karen Ferguson -President Elect
• Christine Sam - Executive Director
• Robert Lane - Federal Advocacy Coordinator

The State Leadership Conference is APA’s venue for learning about cutting edge trends in the field of psychology. Many sessions focus on state psychological boards and how to keep boards and membership engaged and vibrant. State psychological associations also meet with legislative representation and request support for legislative actions which are good for psychology.

This year was my sixth year attending SLC after 2 years as Diversity Delegate, 2 years as President Elect, then 2 years as President. As always, I found SLC renewing and exciting and am happy to report on the key themes from this year’s event. I’ve also included links to reports from other SLC attendees below so you can experience the conference from multiple vantage points.

The theme of the 2011 conference was “Building a Leadership Culture.” Speakers emphasized the importance of behavioral health professionals leading their own healthcare reform efforts rather than having the decisions made for us. A good example is APA’s efforts to develop practice guidelines based on good science and sound clinical judgment rather than insurance companies independently deciding what they will reimburse for without our input and collaboration. In terms of other cutting edge trends which demonstrate this proactive approach, the integration of behavioral health into medical care settings was emphasized. Behavioral health professionals are uniquely qualified to address the behavioral components of chronic disease management which contribute to high service utilization and high costs, and integration within these settings allows other disciplines to know more about what we do (rather than seeing behavioral health care as a “black box”) and to see the value we add.

Click here for additional information from Karen Ferguson about the leading edges of psychology as well as her thoughts about her Presidency which begins in August of 2011.

Other key messaging from APA involved budgetary issues which could have a significant impact on AK-PA. Click here for Christine Sam’s summary as Executive Director which presents key information and possible impacts. Budget will remain a key area of focus for the Board as we deliberate on these possible changes and keeping AK-PA vital and sustainable.

Finally, click here for Robert Lane’s summary in order to learn more about what we discussed with Congressman Don Young, Senator Murkowski, and staffers of Governor Sean Parnell and Senator Mark Begich.

I look forward to continuing to serve AK-PA through the remainder of my Presidential year then to support the continued efforts of Karen Ferguson and the AK-PA Board as Past President.

Denise Dillard, Ph.D.
President

SLC was an inspiring event for me this year.  With my first presidential year quickly approaching, I felt very engaged in taking down ideas to bring back to the board and to membership to feed and inspire us all. 

1.  I attended a workshop on Psyclink -- a new wiki space for sharing information centered around topics in psychology, everything from eating disorders and anxiety disorder book lists to words of wisdom on how to share a rental office.  This is a new forum that is open to all APA members and could be of significant benefit to many. 

2.  I also attended a workshop entitled Productive Disruption. The point was to have folks on the leading edge of psychology talk about ways we in the field need to change course in order to stay viable and strong in our work.  Some of the main themes included 1) aligning training with the real world of psychology, 2) embracing accountability -- using our scientific bent to demonstrate the value of what we bring; 3) understanding the new economy which needs us to be "fast, nimble and quick"; and 4) integrating technology in a myriad of ways into what we do and how we connect.  A great quote "Although complaining is cathartic, it is not a viable alternative economic activity"  Stout and Cook 1999.

Another key theme I heard was understanding the changing demographics -- ethnically diverse multi-lingual clients, the aging population, women... I came away with a long list of Continuing Education ideas -- interdisciplinary trainings and topics that are about what WE need to stay competitive and viable in our work. 

3.  Learned about Strategic Plans and how other states have used these plans and committee structures to form strong boards with clear goals and outcomes.  Also learned about ways to strengthen the Board Leadership pipeline and increase membership. 

ACTION ITEMS I AM RETURNING WITH:

1. Do a survey to assess the degree to which our strategic plan aligns with what membership wants

2. Continue to encourage our committee structure,

3. Give a list of many Continuing Education ideas to executive team and Continuing Education Chair,

4. Consider an e-newsletter to engage membership more in how AK-PA advocates, educates and leads,

5. Create a TO DO list from my ideas generated at the conference so the thoughts are not lost.

Thank you again for the enriching opportunity to go to SLC as part of the Alaska delegation this year. 

Karen Ferguson, Ph.D.
President-Elect

This was my second SLC as Executive Director and I felt a little less overwhelmed and was able to take in more.

There were several opportunities to meet with other Executive Directors during SLC.  The first was at meet and greet function, the second a breakfast meeting of small State Associations and the third the general business meeting of all Executive Directors.  The conversation inevitably gravitated toward the announcement on the part of CAPP that the Organizational Development grant pool for 2011 was being reduced to $150,000.  This is in response to shrinking revenues to APA Practice Organization which is the source of funding for CAPP grants.  Such a big reduction in the total amount available in the grant pool will have a devastating effect on many State Associations including Alaska.  The Organization of Executive Directors CESPA has been tasked with making suggestions for how the smaller pool of funds can be most effectively distributed to assure that there is a functional state organization representing the interest of psychology in every state. 

CESPA is a taking a two pronged approach; on the one hand all executive directors through the list serve are trying to come up with some practical ways to make sure that no state association has to close its doors as a result of a decrease in their CAPP grant, simultaneously CESPA is working through its representatives on CAPP to continue to lobby for a restoration of the $250,000 in the amount available for CAPP grants before CAPP funds any other grant categories. 

Another source of concern for the Executive Directors is the recommendation by CAPP to require all State Association Board members to be payers of the Practice Organization Special Practice Assessment.  The effect of this would be that students, academics, Masters level practitioners, and others who may not be members of APA will not be eligible to sit on a State Association’s Board.  Should this recommendation be implemented it would decimate AK-PA’s board which relies heavily on students and Master’s level practitioners.  We would be forced to either drastically shrink the size of our board or find ourselves ineligible to apply for CAPP grants which currently provide roughly 30% of our total yearly budget. 

These are all issues of significant importance to AK-PA.  I look forward to working with the board to find creative and effective ways of responding to these challenging new circumstances we find ourselves in.

In addition to attending meetings specific to Executive Directors I, like other members of our small delegation attended other workshops which presented material which would be of interest to our members.   I chose to attend workshops on Prescription Privileges for Psychologists and how Healthcare Reform might impact Psychology.  I will be happy to share what I learned with any members who might want more information on either of these topics.

Christine Sam, M.S
Executive Director

The Federal Advocacy Coordinator (FAC) is one of the very few invitees to the State Leadership Conference (SLC) with airfare and hotel paid for by APA’s Practice Organization (APAPO). To give credit where credit is due, the conference is actually funded by the Committee for the Advancement of Professional Psychology (CAPP) which is funded in part (if not in whole?) by the practice assessment we pay when we pay our APA dues each year. CAPP also awards AKPA an organizational grant each year that helps us fund the Executive Director and lobbyist positions. Alaskan psychologists have actually done well in seeing a relatively large percentage of the practice assessment fees paid come back to them in the form of grants to help fund our state association’s budget. But back to the SLC, as the FAC, I attend several meetings that are related to advocacy in general. The advocacy workshops are typically about building and maintaining a grassroots advocacy network and then the importance of political giving. The same was true this year.

General Advocacy - The APAPO is consistently nationally recognized in the field of advocacy as having one of the best grassroots lobbying networks for an organization it’s size. Tens of thousands of emails are generated from those “Alert - Action Required” emails I have forwarded to you over the years. FACs are encouraged to develop personal relationships with our congressional delegation and also to identify “key contacts” who also have a relationship members of congress or key staffers. As the emails are hitting, the FACs and key contacts are directly making those contacts with the same message. It has proved to be an effective grassroots lobbying force. A goal for AKPA has been to mimic what APAPO has taught us to do on the federal level here on the state level. There are a number of issues effecting psychologist on the state level where being more politically active will be necessary to bring about change. Along these lines - if you have a relationship with a federal or state house or senate member or key staffer and would be willing to serve as a “key contact” for us, please contact myself (ahsral@ak.net) or Phil Baker (pwbaker@alaska.net). The health care field is changing and the ways that psychology can play a part are evolving. Being actively involved with those who make the laws and formulate the regulation can only benefit us as a profession; if we aren’t at the table, someone else will be.

One big change to my duties was strongly emphasized during the advocacy work shop had to do with how I have been contacting you through email. I have been advised that to stay in compliance with FEC regulations, in the future FACs should not be using their state listservs for anything that could be considered lobbying. From this point forward, I’ll be passing along the action alerts I feel you need to see via my personal email address. To be fully in compliance the APAPO gave me an email list of all APA practice assessment payers who live in Alaska and it is only email addresses on that list that I can send action alerts to.

Political Giving - originally pitched as the third leg of the political action stool (along with lobbying and grassroots contacts), political giving was again a topic for FAC workshops. One need look no further than last Fall to see the effects large sums of money can have on a candidates ability to campaign. But political giving should not be conceived of as limited to the hundreds of thousands of dollars given by teaparty constituencies and corporate consortiums as in the last senate election. For example, APAPO’s political action committee, the Association for the Advancement of Psychology twice in the last election cycle sent representatives to $1,000 a plate fund-raising luncheons for Senator Lisa Murkowski. But it doesn’t necessarily take huge sums of money. FACs are encouraged to arrange fund-raising events to help keep elected officials stay in place who support our issues or otherwise help fund a candidate who will. Getting 10 or 20 psychologist together to interact with a candidate and support with money doesn’t buy votes, but it does open up lines of access that might not otherwise be there. Members of the House are always running for election and Senate races tend to be more expensive, so even if they have longer terms, they are still constantly racing money for the next election. Political giving works to provide time and opportunities to establish the ground for relationships with legislators that may bear fruit later in the form of sponsoring or supporting legislation we have had the opportunity to well educate the member about.

The three-legged stool metaphor makes sense to me in terms of describing an effective attempt to influence the course of political action. And I have personally seen the amount of instant recognition I have received from state candidates for giving as little as one hundred dollars. But I have also seen research that says that psychologist as a profession are way at the bottom of the list of professions and their related sums of political giving. If you are interested in supporting psychology at the federal level, consider a membership in the Association for the Advancement of Psychology (www.aapnet.org). You might be surprised at the breadth of their interests. As I noted above, money has come back to our delegation in the form of political giving.


Specific Lobbying

Extend Medicare Cut Restoration for outpatient mental health services - asking that legislation be passed to extend the 5% cut restoration beyond the end of this year and preferably until after the new recommendations from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) are ready to be reviewed.

Adding Psychologists to the Medicare Definition of Physician by legislation - this would allow psychologists to be independent practitioners under the Medicare system. This could also have some implications in the Medicaid system as Medicaid often follows Medicare’s lead. There are bills in each house to add psychologists to the definition this session.

HITECH Act extended to Psychologists - the HITECH Act allows for incentives to bring file and case management systems in line with what is envisioned as a national health care data base(s) that allow for disparate services to be collected into one client record. Current legislation does not prohibit this, but has been interpreted as not including psychologists, so we were asking for Congress to provide that direction. Note this would not be necessary if number 2 above could be passed and enacted.

Robert Lane, Ph.D.
Federal Advocacy Coordinator