HIPAA & TELETHERAPY UPDATES

HHS Notification of Enforcement Discretion for Telehealth Remote Communications During the COVID-19 Nationwide Public Health Emergency

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) at the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for enforcing certain regulations issued under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA), as amended by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, to protect the privacy and security of protected health information, namely the HIPAA Privacy, Security and Breach Notification Rules (the HIPAA Rules). 

During the COVID-19 national emergency, which also constitutes a nationwide public health emergency, covered health care providers subject to the HIPAA Rules may seek to communicate with patients, and provide telehealth services, through remote communications technologies. Some of these technologies, and the manner in which they are used by HIPAA covered health care providers, may not fully comply with the requirements of the HIPAA Rules. 

TSBEMFT REPORTS REDUCED STAFFING, SUSPENDS TELEPHONE ACCESS

TAMFT has received the following update from TSBEMFT to share with our members:

"Due to the response to the COVID-19 outbreak we are operating with significantly reduced staff. As a result we have been forced to suspend telephone access. This is being done so the remaining staff can devote their time strictly to processing license applications. Given the rapidly changing circumstances we cannot provide an estimate for the resumption of access to staff by telephone."

TSBEMFT can still be reached via email at the following addresses:

• Professional Counselors should use [email protected];
• Marriage and Family Therapists should use [email protected];
• Social Workers should use [email protected];
• Chemical Dependency Counselors should use [email protected];
• Sex Offender Treatment Providers should use [email protected].

Information is available on the TSBEMFT website at www.dshs.texas.gov/plc.

A Letter From TAMFT: Licensure Test Dates Rescheduled & Teletherapy Updates

Dear TAMFT members and Friends,

We received the following information today that I felt was important to send to you:

Emergency Rule for Telemedicine Announced by Governor Abbott

Governor Abbott announced on March 17 adoption of an emergency rule governing telemedicine and telehealth services provided by health professionals—specifically including mental health professionals—to reduce barriers to accessing services as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. Abbott directed the Texas Department of Insurance (TDI) to issue an emergency rule to help improve access to care, while mitigating the spread of COVID-19.

• TDI filed an emergency rule requiring insurers to pay the same amount for telemedicine and telehealth services, including specific coverage for mental health services, as they do for in-person services.
• The rule applies to in-network services for state-regulated health plans including Medicaid, Medicare, and TRS. In addition, health plans may not limit, deny, or reduce payments based on the platform used (i.e. Skype, FaceTime, and telephone) by the provider to deliver services, or require documentation beyond what is currently required for in-person visits. This applies specifically to HIPAA compliant platforms for telemedicine/technology assisted services. Essentially, at the federal level, Health and Human Services relaxed HIPAA standards to allow providers to use platforms that are not specifically HIPAA compliant (like FaceTime and Skype). In the HHS statement, they continued the prohibition on sites like TikTok and others that would explicitly break client confidentiality. The goal of the action is to provide access to care, whether it’s the provider or client/patient who needs to use a noncompliant platform in order for the care to take place. The emergency rule can remain in effect for up to 120 days.

The emergency rule does not expand coverage beyond what is currently included in an individual’s health care plan or cover services provided before March 17, 2020. The rule allowing health plans to deny payment for services delivered by audio-only telephone, text, or fax remains in effect.

TAMFT and TSBEMFT Ask Governor Abbott for Help With Coronavirus

The Texas State Board of Examiners of Marriage and Family Therapists requires MFTs to have 15 hours of training to perform teletherapy. TSBEMFT has informed TAMFT that it has petitioned the Governor's Office for a suspension of the rules related to training requirements and waits for Governor Abbott's approval.

TAMFT has also been working diligently with our Mental Health partners and delivered a letter to the Governor's office requesting help during this stressful time. Further updates will be shared with members via email and on our Latest News page.

TAKING CARE OF FAMILIES DURING THE CORONAVIRUS: A LETTER FROM TAMFT'S PRESIDENT

Dear Texas Marriage and Family Therapists,

On behalf of your TAMFT Board of Directors, we encourage you to keep yourself safe and mindful of others as we navigate through the coronavirus crisis. You are each very important to the couples and families of Texas. Family stress from employment difficulties and financial worries, to health concerns, can exacerbate and systemically erupt a family system into chaos. 

The TAMFT Membership Committee is excited to share the full schedule of 2020 TAMFT Member Meet-Ups. All Meet-Ups will be held online and are free to TAMFT members. Member Meet-Ups provide 1 hour of CEU credit to TAMFT members. TAMFT will share sign up details and other information with members prior to each event. All Meet-Ups take place from 1 p.m.-2 p.m. CST. Mark your calendars for the following dates!

• January 24, 2020: Websites 101 (Brighter Vision Webinar)
• February 21, 2020: Client Confidentiality and Avoiding Risks
• March 20, 2020: Path to Licensure Q&A
• April 24, 2020: Getting Involved Locally
• May 22, 2020: Brighter Vision Webinar
• June 19, 2020: Getting an Internship Q&A
• July 24, 2020: Ethical Dilemmas
• August 21, 2020: Brighter Vision Webinar
• September 18, 2020: Insurance 101
• October 23, 2020: Finding the Right MFT Model for You
• November 20, 2020: Brighter Vision Webinar
• December 11, 2020: Documentation 101

Interested in sharing your expertise or participating as a panelist at one of these Meet-Ups? Please contact Lacy Compton for more information.

Member Benefit News: TAMFT Now Partnered With Northcentral University!

In TAMFT’s mission of advancement and promotion of marriage and family therapy in Texas, we look to partner with organizations who share this same goal. We are excited to share our newest partnership with Northcentral University. 

 TAMFT and Northcentral University have formed a partnership to offer TAMFT members a 15% tuition discount across all programs including PhD-MFT, DMFT and PhD-Psy. Northcentral University currently has the first and only distance-based PhD-MFT program that is COAMFTE accredited. You can learn more about the discount and the Northcentral University programs here.

Congratulations to the winners of the TAMFT Student Member Contest!

Member Benefit News: TAMFT Now Partnered With Brighter Vision!

In TAMFT’s mission of advancement and promotion of marriage and family therapy in Texas, we look to partner with organizations who share this same goal. Brighter Vision is one such company, and we’re very excited today to announce our partnership with them. 

If you’re not familiar, Brighter Vision specializes in making marketing simple for therapists, so you can grow your business and help more people. As a part of our partnership, all TAMFT members can now receive 2 months free off any website marketing and website package. To learn more, please click here.

Brighter Vision’s all-in-one website design service helps you grow your practice by:

Call for Proposals: Poster Presentations at TAMFT 2020 Annual Conference

TAMFT is excited to announce our Call for Poster Proposals is now open for the 2020 Annual Conference!

Poster Presentations are geared toward students (undergraduate, masters, and doctoral level) who have been learning about the process of conducting research in the field of marriage and family therapy and are looking to gain experience presenting their research at conferences.

Free Member CEU: Join Us for the First TAMFT Member Meet-Up!

TAMFT October 2019 Member Meet-Up: How to Start a Telemental Health Practice

This is a closed, members-only event. Not a member or needing to renew? Click here.

This Member Meet-Up Session will focus on a brief history and need for distance counseling in Texas, explore the best practices of the AAMFT for distance counseling, and present some basic steps to begin the process of adding distance counseling to your clinical practice. There will be time for a Q&A at the end. Sign-up required; limited number of seats available. 

BHEC Meeting to Be Held October 15: View Live Online or Register for Public Comment

The following boards will join the Texas Behavioral Health Executive Council (BHEC) on September 1, 2020. In preparation for this transfer BHEC will hold a meeting on October 15, 2019. The meeting will begin at 11:00 a.m. Central Time. Public comment will be accepted during the meeting, or you may view the meeting via webcast.

The meeting agenda can be found at:

TAMFT Board Statement on El Paso and Dayton Shootings

TAMFT is deeply saddened by the shootings that occurred in El Paso, TX, and in Dayton, OH, last weekend. Our deepest condolences are with those individuals and families who were injured or whose lives were lost in these tragedies.

When violence is no longer an outlier and when incidents like these are more commonplace, we must reflect as a community on the systemic problems that contribute to them. As a professional community trained to discern mental and behavioral health from illness and its impact on marriages and families, it is deeply troubling that some continue to seek to blame acts of violence on mental illness. Although it is true that mental illness sometimes does precede violence, misrepresenting violence as the result of mental illness is an illusion. Mental illness already endures a worldwide stigma. It does not need uninformed projections to make it worse. We encourage you to keep working to erase the stigmas around mental illness and the need for individuals and families to seek care from licensed professionals.

Submit Your Proposals for the 2020 Annual Conference

Whether you’re a seasoned clinician, you've been practicing for a few years, you’re just starting out, or if you’re finishing your degree and anticipating your own clinical practice, being a great therapist is so much more than knowing and relating to your clients. Marketing yourself and your business, taking care of basic business needs, narrowing down your focus as a therapist, moving yourself to an expert level, staying on top of trends and research in your field, taking care of yourself while taking care of others, or simply just getting started in your practice—propelling your passion for therapy into a successful and maintainable practice takes work. TAMFT is currently accepting proposals for the 2019 Conference program, with particular emphasis on the following areas of need:

• Strategies/tools/guidance for building practices
• Marketing ideas or technology solutions for therapists
• Business solutions or tools for therapists
• Tips for narrowing down into a focus
• Specific niche areas and strategies/best practices for serving those
• Special populations underserved in therapy/diversity issues
• New research or trends in the field that therapists need to be aware of
• Strategies for working with difficult/problematic clients or situations
• New avenues for providing therapy (technology-assisted) and how/when/why to do these
• Self-care for therapists
• Ethics sessions
• Supervisory sessions
• Sessions specific to LMFT-Associate and student members

Submission Guidelines and Proposal Form