New England Psychologist

Lynda Marshall, J.D., is the executive director of the Vermont Psychological Association.

Licensing master’s level psychologists could help fill gaps

By Beth Negus Viveiros

About 160 million Americans live in areas with mental health professional shortages, with more than 8,000 additional professionals needed to fill the demand, according to the U.S. Health Resources & Services Administration. More states licensing master’s level psychologists could get patients the help they need. In addition to West Virginia, Kansas, New Mexico, and Kentucky, Vermont is one of only five states that currently license psychologists to operate independently. Approximately 17 other state jurisdictions have a path to licensure for… Read more »

Practical Practice

Make me an offer: How third-party negotiators suppress out of network claims

By Ellen Anderson, Ph.D

As sensational as this title may sound, in August of 2023, AdventHealth brought an antitrust lawsuit against MultiPlan, Inc. a third-party business that negotiates out of network insurance claims between health care providers and insurance companies. The details of the lawsuit are available online. AdventHealth refers repeatedly to the “MultiPlan Cartel.” I became familiar with MultiPlan last year after I resigned from the panel of an insurance company but continued to submit electronic claims on behalf of existing clients who… Read more »

Marketing to the public versus peers

By Ellen Anderson, Ph.D

When I began my career, in the early 1990s, word of mouth, recommendations from health providers and insurance provider directories were the primary methods I used to find a therapist in independent practice. Psychologists promoted new psychotherapeutic approaches by speaking at conferences, writing manuscripts, and books. In the digital age, there is an inordinate amount of competing content, but it seems that most people still seek out a psychologist through personal referral, recommendation from a health provider, or via an… Read more »

The overscheduled practitioner

By Ellen Anderson, Ph.D

“People don’t change.” This was relayed to me within my first week on the job by a psychologist, 30 years older than myself. As a researcher, he had some basis for this statement and was referring to enduring behavior patterns, such as my tendency to take on too much and predictably, feel overwhelmed. Over the course of our 30-year friendship, this has remained a fundamental disagreement between us. Psychotherapy is based on the premise that people are capable of change!… Read more »

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