APA Council of Representatives report

APA Votes to Reduce Dues

As many of you know, we are fortunate to have seven representatives on the American Psychological Association Council of Representatives. APA council meets twice a year and Division 39 Council Representatives serve an important role in the governance of our parent organization. View the February Meeting Summary and read about the vote to reduce dues payments!

Federal Advocacy Coordinator update 

By Marilyn Metzel, PhD, ABPP

I have just returned from the State Leadership Conference where I represented Division 39 as your Federal Advocacy Coordinator. The State Leadership Conference brings together representatives from each state, provincial, and territorial association and each division to form a leadership culture. APA and the APA Practice Directorate sponsor the meeting in Washington. The purpose is to support and advance psychology in the public arena and to fight for practice issues.

Topics discussed at the March meeting

1. Request that Medicare cuts by CMS be staved off until 2012;

2. Request the addition of psychologists to the Medicare "physician" definition; and

3. Electronic Health Records: Make psychologists eligible for the HITECH Act incentives to facilitate psychologists' interaction with the electronic health process.

It will be interesting to see how much impact we will have on the House and Senate votes. Please contact me with any questions or comments.