R


egulation and Third Party Billing


President’s Message


In 2011 when I became Chair of the Nova Scotia College of Counselling Therapists, I vividly recall after the celebration several new and senior members of the College coming up to me and saying, “ Well now we have a College. But you know it won’t survive unless our members are hired because they have a license and our full and part-time private practitioners are accepted under the benefit plans of insurers and also obtain third party billing” That statement carries a lot of truth and reality. Luckily, the College had a committee that worked tirelessly on this and there have been good results. Of course there is much more work to be done. In Nova Scotia, there is the work of promotion that is being done and it may be done in other smaller provinces too. Resources and staff support can be a challenge. However, those decisions will be up to each College. In larger provinces, the role of the regulator does not include the promotion of its licensed members nor does it appear the Colleges engage in creating third party billing access for their members.


Ahead to 2018 and as President, I know that one of the main supports that our association works tirelessly to provide is recognition of our CCC designation and the promotion of that high standard to employers to hire our members. Included in this work of advocacy is CCPA’s efforts to communicate to the public the value in seeking the services of a nationally certified counsellor/psychotherapist.


Related to this is the fact that the number FACEBOOK.COM/CCPA.ACCP


one priority that CCPA members are concerned about is access to third party billing. As well, we now have members who are also licensed in regulated provinces. Consideration now has to be given to a greater level of complexity in supporting all our members.


I am very excited to tell you about a third party billing project that will pursue third party billing in both regulated and unregulated provinces. The initial phase of the project was funded by our Regional Development Fund with the second phase supported through a regular budget process and will have two parts. A private sector component where National Office staff will be collaborating with Julie Holden of Charlton Consulting Group and a public sector component lead by national office staff in collaboration with Impact Public Affairs of Ottawa. We currently are in the early stages of a pilot project in Manitoba.


Our national office staff has produced a presentation to highlight the value and need for the project. Below are several key points that I would like to share with you.


• In 2006 CCPA launched a third party billing project and hired a consultant to contact all the major insurance companies regarding the acceptance of counsellors and psychotherapists as eligible service providers for mental health services.


• The message received was, come back when you are regulated. CCPA turned its


TWITTER.COM/CCPA_ACCP WWW.CCPA-ACCP.CA


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