TAMFT Initiatives and Priorities

 

 

Mental health professionals play an important and cost-effective role in the delivery of critical care services; treating clients in a variety of settings, working directly through private insurance, the public health, behavioral health, human services, criminal justice and educational systems.

 

Currently, Chapter 1451, Insurance Code, relating to access of certain practitioners and facilities, provides that an insured may directly select the mental health services of a licensed psychologist, a licensed social worker or a licensed chemical dependency counselor as may be medically necessary and specified within the terms and conditions set forth in the health insurance policy. However, Chapter 1451 also authorizes a health plan to limit an insured’s direct access to the services provided by a licensed marriage and family therapist, unless recommended by a physician.

 

SB 1291 and HB 4401 provides consistency and parity in the way health insurance policies treat all of the similarly credentialed licensed mental health providers by removing the permissive authority of a health insurance policy to require a physician referral before a client can select the services of a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT).

 

 

 

Current law establishes at least 60 days to finalize a divorce in Texas. The required waiting period may not often present a personal safety problem, but for those in abusive relationships, any form of prolonging the dissolution of a marriage can present very real dangers for spouses who are victims of domestic violence. TAMFT supports legislation that recognizes these dangers and considers the well-being and safety of family violence victims.

 

SB 24 and HB 72 address the need to protect the abused party in a divorce suit, providing judicial discretion to eliminate the waiting period for these types of situations.

 

 

 

In the Fall of 2008, the Texas Medical Association (TMA) filed suit against the Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapy objecting to the use of the term “diagnosis’ in the rules governing the practice of marriage and family therapy. TMA further disputes that all diagnosis, whether mental or physical conditions, fall exclusively under the practice of medicine and that the ability to diagnose lies only with a physician’s scope of practice. The suit alleges that the use of the word diagnosis expands the scope of practice beyond what is allowed in law, but if the law allows it, then the law is unconstitutional.