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supporting HR 655
Members of Re: Medicare Social Work Equity Act of 1999 (S. 847, H.R. 655) Dear (Member) I am writing to you on behalf of the Clinical Social Work Federation (CSWF), the national voice of clinical social workers with over 8,000 members nationwide. CSWF promotes excellence in clinical social work practice through the development and advancement of the profession for the benefit of clients and clinicians who serve them. Under federal
legislation that established the National Institute of Mental Health,
social work is designated as one of the four core mental health
professions. Clinical social workers (CSW), who comprise our entire
membership are fully trained and qualified to provide diagnosis and
treatment of mental disorders. Clinical social workers are the largest
group of mental health services providers in the country. Over 60% of all
mental health services are nationwide are provided by clinical social
workers, more than all other mental health professionals combined. In
rural and other underserved areas, clinical social workers are often the
only mental health providers. The minimum requirements for a clinical
social worker are a master's degree in social work,
supervised We are writing now to urge you to include the Medicare Social Work Equity Act (MSWEA) of 1999 in the corrections to the Balanced Budget. Under the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, section 4432, Clinical Social Workers were no longer able to bill Medicare directly for the provision of clinical social work services such as diagnosis and therapy. Clinical social work services had been previously excluded from the bundling of services and the MSWEA restores this exclusion. We maintain that medical social work services, which include case management, discharge planning, and adjustment issues for the patient and families were the intended services properly bundled in the prospective payment system. These are the services provided by social workers employed by skilled nursing facilities (SNF). The services of clinical social workers who are, in many cases, independent practitioners and who provide mental health diagnosis and therapy should not be bundled. CSWs should be allowed to bill Medicare directly for their services to residents of SNFs. The MSWEA corrects the inequity to clinical social workers among other providers of mental health services. The passage of MSWEA will ensure that clinical social workers continue to provide the mental health services to residents of SNFs. Without this remedy, nursing homes will resort to the more costly services of other mental health service providers or in underserved and rural areas where clinical social workers are the primary providers and often the only provider of mental health services, residents of SNFs will not receive the mental health services they need. For further information, do not hesitate to contact me or Sharon Payne, Chair of our Government Relations Committee. I may be reached at 206-461-3883 and Ms. Payne may be reached at 757-490-0725. We look forward to working with you to strengthen the intention and effectiveness of the Balanced Budget adjustments on behalf of the residents of skilled nursing facilities. Sincerely, R. Keith Myers,
MSW
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