The Inauguration of the NAMFT Legislative/Advocacy Page
7/17/2020
By Anne Buettner
Legislative/Advocacy Chair
Message from Anne Buettner, Legislative/Advocacy Chair:
Dear NAMFT members,
I look forward to serving the needs of NAMFT members in the promotion of the profession of marriage and family therapy. Please give me feedback, positive or negative.
Thanks. Anne
July, 2020, Important Update on Licensure Renewal
Update as of 7/19/2020: The deferral date has been identified as 12/31/2020.
Previously, in June, 2020, the Mental Health Practice Board met and believed that licensure renewal could go as usually planned (September 1) , however, because of the resurgence of COVID-19 in the nation and in July no word has been provided as to an end date of the state of emergency, thus the department of Licensure and Regulation will be implementing the Executive Order Renewal Deferral (EO 20-10).
Renewals are currently on hold per Executive Order 20-10. The Licensure Unit will send renewal notices after the Executive Order is lifted. and licensees will have 90 days to complete their renewal and pay the renewal fee.
Executive Order 20-10 is effective until 30 days after the lifting of the COVID-19 State of Emergency.
Other mental health practitioners of good standing in another state can practice in Nebraska due to Nebraska in a state of emergency and Uniform Credentialing Act is waived.
Executive Order 20-27 is effective through December 31, 2020
PLMHP can do telehealth during supervision. Continuing competency requirements waived.
Continuing Competency Waiver FAQ’s
Mental Health requires 32 CEUs; 2 CEUs of which are on ethics. The entire FAQ’s and EO can be viewed here.
With this, you can access General Statewide Telehealth COVID-19 updated 4/1/2020 (8 pages).
Proposed Mental Health Practice regulations shall be at the review of Board of Health by the end of July, 2020.
US Congress Holds Hearing on MFTs in Medicare Bill and Other Mental Health Legislation
Congress held a hearing on June 30 regarding several mental health bills. The bills that were discussed included legislation that would add MFTs and MHCs as Medicare providers – H.R. 945, the Mental Health Access Improvement Act of 2019 – as well as 20 other mental health bills. This hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Health was entitled, “High Anxiety and Stress: Legislation to Improve Mental Health During Crisis.” The House Energy and Commerce hearing was a success. During this hearing, the MFTs in Medicare legislation was addressed in a question asked to the hearing panelists by Representative Morgan Griffith (R-VA). AAMFT provided highlights of this hearing through AAMFT’s Twitter platform, and other AAMFT members provided live commentary during this hearing. This hearing was one of the first steps in moving the MFTs in Medicare legislation through Congress. The next step is urging this committee to vote to pass H.R. 945 so that this legislation can be voted on by the full House of Representatives. On Thursday, July 9, AAMFT sent an email blast to all AAMFT members residing in the district of a member of the Energy and Commerce Committee to ask their Member of Congress to support H.R. 945. For the rest of us, in the United States, if you have not already done so, please contact your Members of Congress and urge them to support the MFTs in Medicare legislation. We are all busy people. A single phone call can suffice.
District 1
Jeff Fortenberry
301 South 13th Street
Suite 100
Lincoln, NE 68508
402 438 1598
District 2
Don Bacon
13906 Gold Circle
Suite 101
Omaha. NE 68144
402 938 0300
District 3
Adrian Smith
1811 West 2nd Street
Suite 275
Grand Island, NE 68803
308 384 3900