Psychologist John Kowalski of Canaan, Columbia County, has been to the annual lobby day sponsored by the New York State Psychological Association three times, and eagerly came back to march the marble halls of Albany again, days before the final state budget passed.

"It's just so important to see how it works, how decisions made in the Legislature impact our ability to deliver the goods," he said, standing in the Legislative Office Building with colleagues from NYSPA, which is led by president Richard Wexler.

Gabrielle Brecht is a NYSPA psychologist from the Berkshire Farms Center who came to lobby day out of "interest and intrigue for how the process works."

She joined her peers in advocating for an increase in Medicaid payments to practitioners, an initiative in the governor's budget that was subsequently enacted in the final budget passed by the Legislature.

Budgetary success

"Our point was to make sure it did get continued in the budget, and it did," William Egan happily reported after the lobby day.

Egan is the interim executive director of NYSPA.

Eric Garfinkel, a New York City psychologist and NYSPA officer, was happy about the state's move to increase access to outpatient practitioners for Medicaid recipients.

Now, Medicaid recipients can turn more often to individual professionals, who may provide more choices than clinics with long waiting lists.

"By increasing access to independently practicing professionals, we're reducing the stigma and discrimination (of Medicaid)," Garfinkel said. "We're avoiding costly, unnecessary and potentially counter-productive hospital settings."

Among the NYSPA volunteer activists was first-timer Melissa Antaris, a psychologist intern. Lobby day "put a face to the process for me," she said.

For Kowalski, that process can result in real change, when hard work pays off in the passage of Timothy's Law.

The law, which NYSPA advocated for in conjunction with NYSUT, the family of Timothy O'Clair and advocacy groups, was "democracy in action," he said.

Timothy's Law, which was enacted in January 2007, prohibits insurance companies from limiting coverage for mental illness.

It mandates that insurance providers cover mental health, and that coverage and cost must be "on par" with other health care services covered. The O'Clair family was denied ongoing mental health coverage for their ill son, who later committed suicide.

Kowalski said, "There's no question" that the law helps his clients in a group practice he is in part-time.

"Right out of the gate you know coverage will be in place. Before, you had to justify extending services," he said.

Egan said the group is monitoring what has happened since the implementation of Timothy's Law. "We are writing to the insurers asking them how they have implemented Timothy's Law."

On lobby day, NYSPA asked legislators again for psychologists to be given due process rights by hospitals when a request for hospital access is denied.

If a client is hospitalized for a medical condition, such as a heart attack, then that patient will need help with lifestyle changes, Garfinkel pointed out.

"For years the obstacle to getting hospital access was that we didn't have scope of practice," Garfinkel said. "Now that's corrected."

Statute of limitations

The association is seeking a 10-year statute of limitation on complaints of professional misconduct against licensed mental health professionals or, in the case of minors, limiting complaints to 10 years after the age of maturity.

Without a time limit, these professionals say, they must keep patient records in perpetuity to protect themselves from professional misconduct charges.

NYSPA, which has a professional affiliation with NYSUT, has a membership of 3,000 licensed psychologists and students.

— Liza Frenette